Cover Reveal: Shattered by Pamela Sparkman

Title: Shattered (Stolen Breaths #2)

Author: Pamela Sparkman

Age: Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Scheduled Release Date:October 1, 2014

Close your eyes for a moment and picture this.

A gorgeous redhead walks into a bar.

No, wait, a wedding reception.

A gorgeous redhead walks into a wedding reception. Poised, polished and flawless - on the outside.

He's tall, dark, and handsome, exactly like a fairytale prince and he won't take no for an answer as he leads her to the dance floor.

But this will be no ordinary dance and theirs is no ordinary story. What begins as rhythmic steps on a dance floor fluidly and beautifully becomes the rhythm of two hearts meant to beat as one.

Until the music stops.

In a moment everything she's put behind her comes crashing down, threatening to destroy what his love has helped repair and rebuild.

Life throws punches and it hits hard when you least expect it.

What they learn is that sometimes, in order to be truly whole, you have to first be shattered to your very core.

[ No (hide spoiler)]

Shattered on Goodreads

Excerpt:

“Maggie.” The way he said my name so softly, with such reverence, it sent a shiver up my spine. He pulled me inside, closed the door and pressed me up against it. It was so fast I barely knew what was happening. And when he pressed his hands against the door alongside my head, I was cocooned inside his arms. He stared down at me with pained concentration. His eyebrows pinched together while deep blue irises burned through me. He breathed out a long deep sigh as he closed his eyes into thin slits for several seconds. My heart raced as I struggled to anticipate his next move.

When his eyes opened, the intensity had subsided, but not disappeared. The burning desire behind them remained. His eyebrows smoothed, no longer pinched together. I had to close my own eyes as his warm sweet breath feathered across my lips. I was inundated with all of his emotions as they came flooding through me like a giant tsunami.

I was going under.

About the Author:

I grew up in Alabama and have always been an avid reader. I had a stack of those Little Golden Books and I can remember reading Three Little Kittens over and over and over again. It was my favorite.

Fast forward and the older I got the more in love with books I became. So, I'm admitting that I am a huge nerd. The only reading I don't like are those math word problems. And I'm okay with that because no one has ever asked me in real life... "If I give you two bananas and take away six apples, how long will it take the southbound train to collide with the northbound train if Johnny left his house at midnight?" It just doesn't happen.

So, yeah, books are my thing.

Oh and music. All kinds. Love.It.

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Eliza's Review: Reasonable Doubt, #3 by Whitney G.

                                             

Title: Reasonable Doubt, #3

Series: Reasonable Doubt

Author: Whitney G.

Release Date: 26th August, 2014

Rating: 4.5 "I missed You" Stars

Cliffhanger:. No

[ Yes (hide spoiler)]

I hate him...  I hate that I fell in love with him, I hate that he didn't love me back, and I hate the fact that I just made a life-altering decision just so I could get the hell away from him.   He'd always said that he was unchangeable, heartless, and cold...   I really should've believed him...  

**Final book in the Reasonable Doubt series...**

I remember reading the first book and loving Andrew's ability to shock and turn me on in the same sentence. I loved his filthy, unapologetic attitude and taken with the series from then - I'm happy to say this didn't change much in this book either.

As much as I'll miss that Andrew, I like the direction the Author has taken with this book. We see the man behind the facade and it's actually quite surprisingly emotional in part.

Aubrey also goes through a transformation and it was finally good to see her stand up for herself and find acceptance in more ways than one. They grew as individuals and a couple and the epilogue had me sighing in utter satisfaction.

I'm definitely keeping an eye out for future work from Whitney G. After all, the mind that brought us Andrew is the mind of a Lady I say, F.L.Y.

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Eliza's Review: Black Lies by Alessandra Torre

Title: Black Lies

Author: Alessandra Torre

Release Date: 25th August, 2014

Rating: 5 "Lucky" Stars

Cliffhanger: No

Brant: Became a tech billionaire by his twentieth birthday. Has been in a relationship with me for 3 years. Has proposed 4 times. Been rejected 4 times. Lee: Cuts grass when he’s not banging housewives. Good with his hands, his mouth, and his cock. Has been pursued relentlessly by me for almost 2 years, whether he knows it or not. Go ahead. Judge me. You have no idea what my love entails. If you think you’ve heard this story before, trust me – you haven’t. 

This is going to be short as I don't trust myself not to give anything away.

I don't do cheating and I don't do triangles. So why read a book I know straight off the bat contains both? Alessandra Torre - I love the why she writes and I haven't read anything by her yet that disappoints.

Black Lies is a book that took the two main subjects I have no interest in reading about and spun them into a tale that gripped, intrigued and surprised me.

Layana Fairmont is a beautiful, smart and fiercely independant. Raised by affluent parents, she knows she's expected to behave in a manner befitting of a young Lady, marry a well-to-do Gentleman and raise the perfect family. She seemingly plays her role and bides her time until her trust fund is released and then, so is she.

There's a story here with Layana alone, she's not you average heroine. She has a fun rebellious streak, she's also shrewd and somewhat calculating and as much as i thought I would dislike her, I didn't. She's strong, looking for love and security and it's all these elements that that attract her to two men who couldn't be more different.

Brant:
Became a tech billionaire by his twentieth birthday. Has been in a relationship with me for 3 years.
Has proposed 4 times. Been rejected 4 times.

Lee:
Cuts grass when he’s not banging housewives. Good with his hands, his mouth, and his cock. Has been pursued relentlessly by me for almost 2 years, whether he knows it or not.

Have I already said this was an intriguing read? I found myself realising It's more a story of truth than deceit; strength than dishonour; of hope than desperation.

I was on tender hooks to the very last page - There's what you think, what you're lead to believe and the truth.

You'll have to read it to find out what it is.

~Copy provided by Author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you~

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Blog Tour: Sweet Fall by Tillie Cole; Review, Excerpt and Giveaway!!

Title: Sweet Fall

Series: Sweet Home #3

Author: Tillie Cole

Release Date: 26 August, 2014

Rating: 4.5 stars

From the USA Today Best Selling Sweet Home Series, comes Sweet Fall; a tale of heartache, beating the odds and finding strength in the most unlikeliest of places.

We all have secrets.
Secrets well buried.

Until we find the one soul who makes the burden of such secrets just that little bit easier to bear.

Lexington "Lexi" Hart is a senior at the University of Alabama. Surrounded by her best friends, her loving family and having fulfilled her life-long dream of making the Crimson Tide cheer squad, everything is going exactly as she always dreamed it would. But beneath her happy exterior, demons lurk, threatening to jeopardize everything Lexi has worked to achieve. When events in her life become too much to cope with, Lexi finds herself spiraling down into the realm of her biggest fear. Lexi falls hard, victim once again to the only thing that can destroy her and, on the way, finds herself falling straight into the dangerous tattooed arms of a guy from the wrong side of the tracks.

Austin Carillo, starting Wide Receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide, must get picked in this year's NFL draft. He needs it. His brothers need it. Most importantly, his mother desperately needs it. Brought up in a world where the poor are forgotten, the sick are left to fend for themselves and no hero miraculously appears to pull you out of hell, Austin had no other choice but to make a living on the wrong side of the law—until football offered Austin the break to get his life back on track. But when a family tragedy drags him back into the clutches of the gang he believed he had left far behind, Austin finds himself falling. Falling back into criminal ways and falling deep into a suffocating darkness. Until a troubled yet kindred spirit stumbles across his path, where Austin quickly finds he is falling for a young woman, a young woman who might just have the power to save him from his worst enemy: himself.

Can two troubled souls find a lasting peace together? Or will they finally succumb to the demons threatening to destroy them?

New Adult/Contemporary Romance novel—contains adult content, sexual situations and mature topics. Suited for ages 18 and up.

[ Yes (hide spoiler)]

Sweet Fall is powerful experience; it’s gritty and raw and so true. It’s incredibly painful read, full of angst, sorrow and agonizing loneliness. Reading it is bitter sweet. The story behind our two main characters will make your heart clench and hurt; the angst, the pain, all the emotions that Tillie Cole’s perfectly captured will make you hangover for weeks.

"We were both just too messed up to ever be with each other in the way we needed to be. Two shooting stars that burned out too quickly, never quite reaching each other's skies."

Lexi is faking everything in her life. Her happiness, her good health, being strong. Behind the dark make up and black dyed hair, she’s scared, fragile and broken. With her friends she chooses to wear a mask of the happy girl she was once, but when she’s alone… she’s ugly and sad. She’s suffering from disorder that slowly eats her alive. And although she's dealing with her anorexia with the help of her parents and doctor, no one else knows how she sees herself in the mirror.

After few years of not cheering, she decides it’s finally time to go back to doing something she loves so much. Even if it means, she has to deal with people looking at her… ‘fat’ body.

Austin is a wide receiver for Crimson Tide’s football team. He’s doing everything he can to make it to NFL and help his family. Thanks to Rome and his brother - Axel, he had opportunity to leave Heighters, the gang he was in. But now that his mother is even worse than before, and his brothers are dealing coke on his campus, he’s really damn close to being expelled…

That’s when he meets Lexi, dark little pixie in not the best circumstances, things seem to get even more complicated.

"I have fallen in love with you. The broken boy who has only ever known trouble and strife. Yet the broken boy who managed to put this broken girl back together, at least for a while."

Sweet Fall is written in dual point of view, and thank god for that! Seeing both Lexi and Austin completely bare before me, with all their heartbreaking secrets was something that really moved me. The effect wouldn’t be the same if that was not the case. Being able to sneak a peek into their souls… hurt. I won’t be sugar-coating; what both of them had to live through is not a walk in the park. It’s horrible and gut-wrenching. And every reader needs to be ready for lots of emotional moments and very high level of angst. The fluffy kind of love we got in Sweet Home doesn’t exist in Lexi and Austin’s novel. They are too broken, too scared to have an easy relationship.

There were moments when I felt mentally overwhelmed; especially when Lexi’s issues started showing its ugly head. I’ve been very uncomfortable then. Seeing her starving herself was just too much sometimes. I felt like someone was cutting my heart into pieces. I was mad at her for acting so stupid, though I knew that she was doing her best. She was a fighter and I admired her for that, but sometimes… ugh, I just felt so overcame with it.

Austin was great, strong character who also made quite some mistakes along the way. I adored him, I really did, but I also found him rough around the edges and standoffish. Which I guess made him more appealing, as he was very real, not-so-perfect hero. There were situations when my heart was bleeding for him, so so much. I was on the verge of tears more times I could count.

Sweet Fall is nothing like the previous book in this series, we all fell in love with, Austin and Lexi will quickly make you forget about Rome and Molly. Their story is just too laud, too captivating to be able to think about something else. It’s dark and real and it hurts to read it, but it’s worth it!

ARC kindly provided by the author, Tillie Cole, in exchange for an honest review

Three hours later, and we’d won. Carillo had scored three touchdowns and the Tide took the W from the Mocs—the perfect season opener. 

Within minutes, the crowd began to filter out of the stadium and the cheer squad ran back into the tunnel, high off the win. 

Trailing at the rear, just taking in the scene, I was left alone. It was strange to see the stadium so quiet, kinda apocalyptic, like the aftermath of some great catastrophic event. Plastic red Solo cups were scattered in the stands, confetti strewn on the grass, and the thick stench of stale beer clung to the humid air. 

“Kinda weird, huh?” a deep Bama-accented voice said from beside me. Dropping my poms in shock, I laid a hand on my chest. Catching a flash of a Crimson shirt, I looked up, blocking the blinding sun from my eyes with my hand, and suddenly lost my breath.

 “S-sorry, what?” I asked in a quiet voice, tipping my neck right back to be able to see the guy’s face. When shade hit, he appeared. Austin Carillo, wide receiver, number eighty-three. Carillo stepped closer to me from his secluded spot beside the players’ tunnel and the stands. 

“This. The quiet after the storm.” He gestured to the empty stadium with a wave of his hand. “It’s my favorite part of the game.” 

I followed the action of his hand. “Not the three touchdowns you scored?” 

The corners of his mouth hooked up in a reluctant smirk. I’d seen Carillo around campus from time to time over the past three years, and I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him crack anything close to a smile. I wasn’t surprised. He was like me—darker, quieter, kept to himself. Austin Carillo was the Italian bad boy of UA: six-foot-four, beautifully olive skin, piercings galore, black ear gauges, neck-to-toe tattoos, dark hair and the darkest of brown eyes. I felt myself blush. If I had a type, he’d be it. But I didn’t date, and from what I’d heard, neither did he.

 “Nah. It’s this. The replay of the game in my mind, the making of memories on this field.” A sense of peace floated over me at what he described. 

“I know exactly what you mean,” I replied wistfully and inhaled the smell of greasy food, churned-up grass… victory. Austin glanced back to the tunnel and, without another word, began to saunter away. I stared back out onto the gridiron and sighed in relief… I’d done it. I’d actually made it through a game unscathed. The voice within hadn’t had the strength to spoil it.

 “It’s about fuckin’ time, by the way!” I suddenly heard and looked behind me, straight at Carillo.

 “Are you talking to me?” I asked in confusion, checking around us to see if anyone else was here. Austin smirked in a deliciously dark way and gestured to my hair and face. 

“Yeah, I’m talking to you. It’s about time a pompom chick ’round here broke the mold. It’s good to have another one of us freaks on this team.” 

One of us freaks? I thought, but all I could do was watch him disappear into the locker rooms. My heart pounded in my chest, and lifting my hand, I ran my fingers over my black hair and lipstick, and I felt a flutter in my chest… one of us freaks…

 Seeing the cleanup crew enter the stadium, I quickly bent down, plucked a piece of grass from the field, and held up the single blade. It was my tradition. A piece of memorabilia from every game I’d ever cheered… But this would be my first in four years.

 The symbol of my new life.

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Tillie Cole is a Northern girl through and through. She originates from a place called Teesside on that little but awesomely sunny (okay I exaggerate) Isle called Great Britain. She was brought up surrounded by her English rose mother -- a farmer's daughter, her crazy Scottish father, a savagely sarcastic sister and a multitude of rescue animals and horses.

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