Christie's review: Ninja at First Sight by Penny Reid

Title: Ninja at First Sight

Series: Knitting in the City #4.75

Author: Penny Reid

Release Date: November 11, 2014

Rating: 5 stars

Cliffhanger: No

Synopsis:

'Ninja at First Sight' is a prequel standalone novella for Knitting in the City book 5, 'Happily Ever Ninja'.

'Ninja at First Sight' is 40k words.

This novalla is the expanded origin story for Greg and Fiona. The first 16k words of this novella are from the short scenes included in 'Scenes from the City', which is no longer for sale.

REVIEW

I am an unashamed die hard fan of Penny Reid. I'll read anything she releases: standalones, trilogies, novellas, factoids on the mating habits of sharks...whatever. I'm first in line. Fiona and Greg stole a little piece of me when I was introduced to them in Scenes from the City, a compilation of short stories starring each one of her couples from the Knitting in the City series. This is the lengthened version of that short story, and gives us the background of how Greg and Fiona met, fell in love, and started their journey in matrimony.

Fiona is a young woman who is an overachiever in some areas in her life, but in other aspects, is more of an observer rather than a participant. She has discipline, intelligence, and an ability to see things in ways that others don't. Her pragmatic mind is something I could dive into and swim around in for days. Penny gives us (yet again) a heroine with intellect and independence that I can really admire.

He's chased my melancholy away with his kisses and touches, and of course I'd enjoyed every minute of it. But reason told me it would be a mistake to allow anyone-even Greg-to be the master of my happiness.

Fiona gives it to Greg straight-no apologies or intimidation. His brusque and biting attitude is enough to make anyone pause. But Fiona sees through his rigidness, she's strangely drawn to it in fact. She's sees something in him that she identifies and connects with.

In the beginning stages, we get plenty of longing and suppressed heat that was absolutely delicious to observe. Greg's broodiness and apparent silent craving grew more intense and irrepressible. It threatened to rupture his resolve to keep his distance at any moment. At first, they seem a somewhat mismatched pair, but his cynicism was an unexpected foil to her innocence. Her complete lack of experience with boys was as shocking to him as it was enticing. And it made me want to see how he would handle her-delicately or fiercely. And it was a perfect mixture of both.

"Shouldn't you be playing up your good points? Isn't that what guys do when they're interested in a girl?"
"But you've never been kissed, he responded, his tone still flat but his eyes dancing with mischief, "and you've never dated. This is my chance to ruin you for anyone else."
There's a respect that you feel between the two. A sense that they value each other and hold their opinions dear and precious. I loved that about them. To feel genuinely valued for who you are is the basis of every strong relationship. Too many times a couple start a life together purely based on attraction and those are doomed to crash and burn. With this couple, I envision tough times ahead, but the faith that they can weather any storm together.


To find a love that endures time, the complications of life, and the stresses that strain every relationship and wear them down slowly is something that people don't see as exciting or romantic in this genre. Maybe it's too real and too close to home. But Penny manages to take a concept that many would find disinteresting and breathes life into it with her humor and a genuineness. It will make you beg for just a little more time to spend with Greg and Fiona. Penny Reid took on a difficult subject and owned it in a way only she can do. I'll be Impatiently waiting for Happily Ever Ninja with bated breath and twitching fingers.

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Cover Reveal: Chasing Spring by R.S. Grey

Title: Chasing Spring

Author: R.S. Grey

Release Date: Feb 1, 2016

I thought I’d left Blackwater, Texas behind for good. I didn’t belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn’t listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.

I didn’t ask for a hero. I don’t want to be saved.

To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin’ out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I’d assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.

I didn’t want to be her hero. Some girls don’t need to be saved.

I am a lover of books, chocolate, reality TV, black labs, and cold weather. Seriously, if I had it my way, I would be curled up on the couch with all of those things... everyday.

I live in Texas where I spend my free time writing and reading. My favorite authors include Mindy Kaling & Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm a comedy geek and love all things "funny". Women like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Mindy Kaling are definitely the biggest inspirations for my writing, though I think my work tends to skew a  bit smuttier than theirs.

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Blog Tour: Floured by Lane Martin.

Title: Floured

Author: Lane Martin

Release Date: Nov 12, 2015

Find on Goodreads

Emily Barnes likes things measured and timed, just like any baker. When she loses the apartment that she needs to run her home-based muffin business, she's faced with a choice: couch surfing at her very loud best friends' separated by thin walls or house sitting an otherwise empty Upper East Side luxury apartment overlooking Central Park. Obviously it’s a no-brainer for this smart cookie.

Declan Hayes is used to people asking things of him and saying no. However, for Maggie, his parent’s cook and housekeeper, he would do just about anything, including going over to his parent’s apartment to check on her pseudo niece who is staying there. His plan was to get in and get out, but the second he saw her, something changed. Something about her sparked the normally cold and dismal place to life; she made it warm and inviting. He finally understood the phrase “there’s no place like home.”

Can Emily and Declan trust the timing of their lives or adjust the lens from which they see them?

Hope, faith, trust and...love?

Will these things be enough for Emily and Declan to get the one thing they both never thought they needed in life?

It’s a good thing they are “Floured” because life is about to get sticky.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

“He seems so perfect, Nat, but then he says things that confuse me.”

“Like?”

“He asked me to forgive him and said this was all new to him, and Marissa acted like she was a jealous ex or something. I don’t understand it. When I asked him if they dated, he said they had a “history” but that he wouldn’t call it dating.”

“Maybe they just bumped fuzzies in the wine cellar.”

“Did you really just say that?”

“What would you like me to say? They shagged, boinked, screwed, banged, humped, or fucked? Take your pick.”

“How much time a day do you spend on Urban Dictionary?”

“What has my bride to be said now? Do I need to wash her mouth out?” Gabe asked as he approached us. It was sweet that my two best friends were checking up on me.

“Oh, baby, you know you love this dirty little mouth.”

“God, do you two need a room?” I asked as they practically began to maul each other. “I need to grab a few things and head back to the apartment for a nap.”

“Is that code for something else?” Gabe asked. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him.

“No, Gabe. I really need to go back to the apartment and get a few hours of sleep so that I can get ready for tomorrow.”

“Okay, but don’t forget about me, and it’s not too late to change your mind about coming to my parents tomorrow. You know the invitation is always open.”

“It’s all good, and I could never forget about you.” We said our goodbyes and I left.

I’m not sure if I walked or floated into the apartment. After placing my grocery bags in the kitchen, I headed back to bed. A fresh arrangement of flowers was on sitting on the nightstand. I was thankful that I had taken the time to remove one of the Bachelor Button’s from the arrangement to dry before I left. The faint scent of apple filled the room. The flowers were delicate and varied in color from white to pink. I quickly opened the card and read.

To the promise of more to come – Dec 

I never thought that I would write a novel, although my English teacher my freshman year in college told me that he would hunt me down if I wasn’t published by the time I was thirty. Well, thirty came and went. I was busy being a wife and working mother of two, and nobody came looking for me.

I doubt my sister thought she was about to change my life forever when she got me a book of “mommy porn” for my birthday in 2012, but that’s exactly what she did. After reading the first book in the trilogy, I rushed out and got the other two books. I became obsessed and read the series several times before learning about Fanfiction. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get enough. The idea fascinated me and I thought, “I can do that.” I was a nervous wreck when I posted my first story, a one shot about my new favorite couple. One story lead to another and then another. My readers encouraged me to write something that was all mine, so that‘s what I did. Thank you to everyone who told me that I could do it. It wouldn’t have been possible without you.

I love reading, writing, traveling, and spending time with my family.  Thank you for going on this journey with me.

Facebook | Goodreads

Lane Martin - Floured

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RELEASE DAY BLITZ: King & Tyrant by T.M. Frazier

King and Pup are back in this Limited Edition Box Set

T.M. Frazier!

NOW AVAILABLE

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1MAskkt

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1MPoVfJ

Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/1R4LZMw

Paperback Amazon: http://amzn.to/1YsctJZ

King: Homeless. Hungry. Desperate. Doe has no memories of who she is or where she comes from. A notorious career criminal just released from prison, King is someone you don’t want to cross unless you’re prepared to pay him back in blood, sweat, sex or a combination of all three. King’s future hangs in the balance. Doe’s is written in her past. When they come crashing together, they will have to learn that sometimes in order to hold on, you have to first let go. Tyrant: I. Remember. Everything. But the relief I thought I would feel never comes, and I’m more afraid now than I was the morning I woke up handcuffed in King’s bed. Because with the truth comes dark secrets I was never meant to know. I will put the lives of those I love most at risk if I let on that my memory has returned, or if I seek help from the heavily tattooed felon who owns me body and soul. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to resist the magnetic pull toward King that grows stronger every day. He’s already saved me in more ways than one. Now it’s my turn to do whatever it takes to save him. Even if that means marrying someone else…

King

Tattooing Doe was the single most erotic moment of my life. Marking her perfect, pale skin with a tattoo I'd designed for her made me so fucking hard I had to adjust myself every thirty seconds in order to concentrate on my work.

When I was done, I handed her the hand mirror, and she walked over to the full-sized mirror that hung on the back of the door, like she'd seen dozens of my other clients do before. When she held up the hand mirror, she gasped.

"What?" I asked in a panic, hoping she didn't already see what I'd hidden in the tattoo. I was an asshole for putting it there. I was an asshole for tattooing her in the first place.
I was just an asshole.

But I couldn't help myself. My name needed to be on her. It wasn’t enough just to call her mine. I needed to mark her as well. So hidden in the vine work under the quote I found that I thought was perfect for her, was my name.

KING was woven into the design. In order to see it you had to tilt your head or otherwise you wouldn't notice it. But it was there.

I would tell her eventually of course, but I wanted it to be my secret for a while. She'd stopped being my possession a while ago, a lot longer before I cared to admit, but I still felt the need to mark her as mine.

I still liked the idea of owning her.

Only now, she owned me, too.

She didn't notice the name. Tears filled her eyes. She stood there staring at the hand mirror in just her panties. Little cheeky ones where her ass hung out of the bottoms. Her tits were only inches from my face. Her tears of happiness made my dick twitch. Although her sad tears evoked the same response.
My dick wasn't partial to which kind of tears he liked.

I took the mirror from her hand and lifted her up onto the counter. "You like it?" I asked, pushing her panties down her legs.

"I love it," she panted, wrapping her legs around me, drawing me close. Her wetness soaking my boxers. I pushed them down with one hand. I'd been hard for three hours, the entire time I’d been working on her, and couldn't wait any longer. I pushed inside her tight, wet heat.
We both moaned at the contact.

"You love it?" I asked, needing to hear her say it again.
"Yes, I love it!" she said as I thrust up into her, hard. "I love it. So much. I love you."
I froze when I heard the words, and when I did, her eyes flung open.
"I didn't mean—"
"Shut the fuck up."

"Oh my god, I have that word vomit thing. I’m sorry. Shit, I just meant that—"
"Shut the fuck up!" I demanded, thrusting hard to get her attention. She closed her eyes, and her head fell back. "That's fucking better. Now, keep that pretty mouth of yours shut while I fuck you."
"Okay," she whispered, breathless.
"Shut up," I said again, and she closed her mouth. "Shut up so I can fuck you…and show you how much I love you."

She nodded and although her eyes stayed shut, a tear rolled down her cheek. I sucked it off her chin before it could fall to the floor.

Then, I fucked her.
Hard.

I showed her how much I loved her until I couldn't tell where I started and she began. Until all that was in that room was me and her and the thing between us that kept pulling us together like magnets. Until we were lost in sensations and orgasms.
And in each other.

I fucked her until we were one person, and in a way we were, because I'd lost myself along the way and I found myself again in the most unlikely place.

I'd found myself again in the haunted eyes of a girl who was just as lost as I was.
Or maybe, we didn't find each other at all.
Maybe, we just decided to be lost together.

T.M. (Tracey Marie) Frazier resides in sunny Southwest Florida with her husband and three feisty fur kids.

She attended Florida Gulf Coast University where she specialized in public speaking. After years working in real estate and new home construction, she decided it was finally time to stop pushing her dreams to the back burner and pursue writing seriously.

In the third grade she wrote her very first story about a lost hamster. It earned rave reviews from both her teacher and her parents.

It only took her twenty years to start the next one.
It will not be about hamsters.

Stalk Her: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Goodreads.

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Cover & Synopsis Reveal: Anarchy Found (SuperAlpha Series) by J.A. Huss

Anarchy Found

J.A. Huss

(SuperAlpha Series)

Publication date: 2nd Dec 2015

Genres: Superhero Romance

Everyone needs a hero.

That’s what Detective Molly Masters tells me. “What we need,” she says, “what the whole world needs,” she pleads, “is a champion.”

The only thing I want to talk about with Molly Masters is how I’d like to make her scream my name when I push her up against a wall, slide my hand up her thigh, and live out my wildest fantasies.

“Someone who will fight against injustice,” she says.

I’ll fight against anything you want, honey. Just come a little closer.

“Someone who will stand tall in the face of adversity,” she says.

I’ll do it standing, sitting, or lying down. See how easy I am?

“Someone who believes in the value of a good deed,” she says.

I believe in the value of me, sweetheart. Because I’m Lincoln Wade. Jaded genius, obscenely wealthy, capable of violence, and looking for revenge.

Molly Masters might have delusions of grandeur. She might see me as some superman capable of cleaning up the scum, filth, and corruption in Cathedral City.

But I’m not the hero she’s looking for.

I’m the dark alley where all her good intentions hide.

So be careful what you wish for, Molly Masters.

Because you’re about to get it.

Sign-up for the release blitz here!

Cover reveal video:
This is a hand drawn cover by Ambro Jordi – watch him draw the main image in time-lapse:

JA Huss is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty romances. She likes stories about family, loyalty, and extraordinary characters who struggle with basic human emotions while dealing with bigger than life problems. JA loves writing heroes who make you swoon, heroines who makes you jealous, and the perfect Happily Ever After ending.

You can chat with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorJAHuss), Twitter (@jahuss), and her kick-ass romance blog, New Adult Addiction (www.newadultaddiction.com).

If you're interested in getting your hands on an advanced release copy of her upcoming books, sneak peek teasers, or information on her upcoming personal appearances, you can join her newsletter list (http://eepurl.com/JVhAr) and get those details delivered right to your inbox.

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Release Blitz: LIES (Phoenix Undercover Book 1) by C.A. Harms.

Title: LIES (Phoenix Undercover Book 1)

Author: C.A. Harms

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: November 24, 2015

Publisher: Limitless Publishing

Watch the Book Trailer!

"Some things are just too far out of our control.”

Blurb

FBI Agent Joshua Phoenix goes undercover…Deep.

Thrust into a world of drugs and criminal activity, integrating himself into the Russian Mafia turned out to be much more than Josh bargained for.

It’s dark and it’s dangerous.

The lives they destroy along the way will never be the same.

The things he is forced to do will haunt him forever.

Even more importantly, he never planned on meeting her…

A chance encounter with Real Estate Agent Gabriella Shannon, has Josh questioning his ability to complete his mission.

And now the dark world may consume them both.

He’s in too deep.

Leaving now would only risk the safety of those around him.

But when his cover’s blown Josh is forced to make a decision that will reroute his future.

One decision.

The hardest decision he will ever have to make in his life.

And those he meant to protect will be the ones who suffer the most…

Purchase your copy today!

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Placing my elbows at the edge of the countertop, I collapsed on the barstool, feeling exhausted. I had never been on a date where I felt like I needed a vacation only two hours in.

“What can I get ya?” the young guy behind the bar asked.

“A decoy, maybe a smoke bomb.” He looked at me in confusion. “Date from hell, dude. Ever had one of those moments where you’re wondering how the fuck you got yourself in such a mess?”

He chuckled and looked up over my shoulder.

“Oh.” He smirked and nodded. “Marissa.”

The fact he knew her name made me cringe. I had a feeling this was worse than I had initially thought. “Oh fuck, what? She’s a stalker or some freaky chick that’s gonna claim we’re engaged? I’ll spend months getting her to leave me the fuck alone, won’t I?”

He handed me a beer and shook his head, chuckling to himself, then poured a shot of tequila and set it on the bar next to my beer. “You’re gonna need that.”

I let my head fall to my hands and grumbled as I mentally cussed out Greyson and myself for even showing up.

“Good luck, man.”

I didn’t even lift my head. It was pointless; I knew he was eating this up. His laughter faded as he worked his way down the bar, serving others.

“I see you don’t suffer from coulrophobia,” came a soft whisper from my right.

I immediately lifted my head and was taken aback by the girl sitting at my side. How had I missed her?

Oh, I know, I’d had tunnel vision as I ran from Cruella toward my next drink.

“What?” I asked, yet all I could focus on was her piercing blue eyes. I had never seen eyes that blue before.

“The fear of clowns,” she stated. “Coulrophobia.”

I remained focused on her beauty, taking the time to look at each feature, wondering why in the hell she couldn’t have been the brunette from the coffee shop. My night would have been a whole hell of a lot better if she was in Marissa’s place.

I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t stop myself. She had mentioned something about clowns, but I was lost. I had no idea what she was talking about. My gaze fell to her plump, full lips, and I smirked. No red lipstick graced them. They held only a sheer film of shiny gloss, and I loved that she preferred the more natural look. When they curved upward in a smile, I didn’t feel even the slightest bit embarrassed that she knew I was checking her out so closely.

When her eyes met mine, she nudged her head toward Marissa. “I was referring to your date. She kinda resembles a clown.”

I stared at her and could see she was fighting back her laughter. She lifted her drink to her lips and took a small sip before lowering it.

I could no longer hold back my own smile. “I fucking hate clowns.”

C.A. Harms is like any other addicted reader. She enjoys happy endings and HEA love stories. She hasn't always been a lover of Romance and had once been addicted to a good Mystery. Just recently she has taken on a new liking and now is a full blown Romance novel addict.

She lives in Illinois and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. You will always find her with her kindle or paperback in hand as it is her favorite pass time.

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