Taken By Love - Review & Giveaway

Blurb:

Daisy Honey fled Trusty, Colorado, after years of battling rumors sparked by her gorgeous looks and lust-inducing name. Now a physician on the brink of a promising career, she reluctantly returns home when her father is injured in a farming accident. Daisy expects the small-town girls who hurt her in the past to take cheap shots again—but she’s completely unprepared for a run-in with tall, dark, and wickedly sexy Luke Braden, the only man who has ever stood up for her—and the man she’s never forgotten.

Luke Braden is handsome, wealthy, and the best damn gypsy horse breeder in the Midwest. After a restless youth, he’s finally ready to settle down—only connecting with women is nothing like connecting with horses, and he’s never met a woman worth the energy. After an arrest in a neighboring town, Luke’s past comes back to haunt him, and he realizes that his inability to find love runs deeper than he ever imagined.

A chance encounter sweeps Luke and Daisy into a world of passion. For the first time ever, Luke feels a connection, but Daisy’s life in Trusty is anything but permanent, and Luke can’t manage a future until he puts his past to rest.

Review by Marlene Engel

For Dr. Daisy Honey, growing up in Trusty, Colorado was a time that she’s more than happy to put behind her.  Because of her unique name and gorgeous looks, she became the target of vicious rumors.  So it’s no surprise that she took the first opportunity she could to move away from the town that had caused so much pain.  But when her father gets hurt, she is forced to return to Trusty and the people she was hoping to leave behind. 

While in town, she bumps into tall, dark and sexy Luke Braden.  He has never been far from her mind and she has fond memories of the way he stood up for her when no one else would.  But his checkered past and recent run in with the law has her seeing yellow!  She knows that her time in Trusty is limited and getting too close to Luke may not be the best decision to make.  Not to mention it will only fuel the rumors that she worked so hard to extinguish. 

But the longer she stays in town, the more she realizes how dire Trusty is in need of a town physician.  When she discovers that many people are driving almost an hour away to see a doctor, and some patients are skipping appointments altogether, she’s torn between leaving town and staying to help the people who made her childhood a living hell.

What I love about this book is that it wasn’t your typical romance novel.  It had deeper elements about bullying and domestic abuse that was brilliantly incorporated into the story.  It had you rooting for Daisy one minute and then swooning over Luke the next.  This is one of those books that you won’t be able to put down and you will be thinking about long after you finish the last page.

About the Author:

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women's fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today's book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, the World Literary Café. When she's not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine. 

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.

Visit Melissa on The Women's Nest, Fostering Success, or World Lit Cafe. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * My social network for women * World Literary Café * Fostering Success * Facebook (Fanpage) * Goodreads 

Enter to win one of 3 e-copies of Read, Write Love

(the previous novel in the series)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Driving With The Top Down - Review & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

Colleen has daydreamed about driving down the east coast, going to auctions and coming back with treasures to resell at her shop.  With her husband and son going for a guys’ trip it was the perfect time to make this dream a reality.  That is until her husband drops a bomb.  His brother’s going away for business and needs someone to watch his daughter, Tamara.  Normally one wouldn’t think this a big deal, but this is the sixteen year old daughter he had only just learned about three years prior and has already had several run-ins with the law.  What does he expect Colleen to do, take this delinquent on a road trip with her?

She hadn’t wanted a co-pilot, but Tamara’s turned out to be better company than anticipated.  However, the duo turns into a trio when they bump into Colleen’s college friend, Bitty. 

Wilhelmina, aka Bitty, has lived a privileged life but things have taken a turn for the worse over the past year.  Now, as she sits in the diner contemplating how she’s going to end her life, she wonders if the universe is trying to tell her something as she sees Colleen walk towards her.  Not wanting Colleen to know how her life has turned out, she concocts a story about her car being stolen as she was on her way to Florida.  As luck would have it, that’s the direction that Colleen is headed and offers her a ride.  As these three ladies take an unexpected road trip together, they learn a lot about each other but more importantly about themselves.  

When I heard that Beth Harbison had a new book coming out, I couldn’t wait to read it.  I’ve read all of her books and knew that I could expect not only a great story with well written characters, but one that had me anxious to find out how it ends, but at the same time not wanting it to end.  Driving With The Top Down is a compelling book about relationships and how three very different women come together when they only have each other to turn to.  This is definitely THE end of summer book to read! 

About the Author:

NYT bestselling author of Always Something There To Remind Me; Thin, Rich, Pretty; Hope In A Jar; Secrets of a Shoe Addict and Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

BETH HARBISON is The New York Times bestselling author of Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger, Always Something There To Remind Me; Thin, Rich, Pretty; Hope In A Jar; Secrets of a Shoe Addict and Shoe Addicts Anonymous. She grew up in Potomac, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., and now shares her time between that suburb, New York City and a quiet home on the eastern shore.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter 

Rafflecopter giveaway

St. Martin’s Press is generously giving two lucky winners a print copy of Beth’s new book, Driving With the Top Down!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hearts in Vegas - Virtual Tour & Giveaway

Hearts in Vegas

Private Eye Romance Series #3

By: Colleen Collins

Releasing July 1^st, 2014

Blurb

"You're not going into this alone." 

P.I. Frances Jefferies is the perfect person to slip into Las Vegas's underworld to recover a priceless necklace. With her elite investigative skills, not to mention her jewel-thief past, she knows she can get the job done. That is, until a sexy stranger gets in her way. 

Braxton Morgan's past is as secretive as her own. There's so much about this man she wants to discover—but not at the cost of her case. For that, she must stay focused. Then Braxton suggests adding his security expertise to catch the criminal. And suddenly they're mixing smarts with danger and a whole lot of passion!

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * B&N * iTunes

About the Author:

Colleen Collins is an award-winning author who has written several dozen novels for Harlequin and Dorchester, as well as three indie nonfiction books on private investigations and one indie mystery, The Zen Man. When not sleuthing, Colleen loves spending time with her husband, the two of them watching one of their favorite sports teams, taking walks with their two Rottweilers (named Jack Nicholson and Aretha Franklin) and herding their three cats.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Goodreads * Twitter

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Winner receives autographed print copies of all three books in this private-eye romance series for Harlequin Superromance 

(The Next Right Thing, Sleepless in Las Vegas and Hearts in Vegas) + $20 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't Go - Review

Review by Deb Czajkowski

Baby Emily is only one month old when her daddy, Dr. Mike Scanlon, an orthopedic surgeon, is called into service as an army doctor in Afghanistan. Leaving behind his wife, Chloe, and baby Emily is so much harder for Mike than any hardships or dangers he knows he will face as an army healer.

It’s Chloe, though, who dies in their kitchen from a household accident.  Mike flies home to bury Chloe, heart-broken, confused, and looking for answers.  With mounting frustration, Mike discovers there are more questions than answers.  How could Chloe have bled to death, all alone and just inches from the front door?  How can he care for his seven-month-old daughter when she’s terrified of this stranger who says he’s ‘Daddy’? How can his medical practice have changed so much in such a short time?  And is there even a place for him there now?

Little does Mike know that things both in Afghanistan and on the home front are going to get worse, much worse, than he ever imagined before he begins for find answers to his many questions.  Mike finds himself searching deep inside himself to make sense of the battle fields that are his new normal, struggling to regain control of his life, a life with his precious daughter.

Many of us have experienced life-changing events in our lives.  It might have been a devastating car accident, an unconscionable act of force, an unexpected or untimely death of someone close. The fallout can be debilitating, the way back a series of struggles that feels like drowning.  Will the world ever stop tilting and shifting and right itself once again?

In Don’t Go, author Lisa Scottoline skillfully spins her own version of one event, Dr. Mike Scanlon leaving his family behind as he serves his country in Afghanistan, that changes many lives.  The author convincingly places you in Chloe’s kitchen during her last moments of life, in Afghanistan as Dr. Mike operates on injured soldiers for hours on end, in Emily’s tears as she first searches for her missing mama and then later screams when the stranger who is her daddy wants to love her, and in the courtroom where Mike ultimately fights for his life. 

Lisa’s heart-wrenching story reminds us that there are many heroes in wars.  The soldiers who fight for our freedoms, of course. The medical staff that dedicates days, months, years, and even their very lives, to saving lives, definitely. But the spouses and families back home are heroes, too, often the forgotten heroes.  I applaud Lisa Scottoline for her knowledgeable and captivatingly informative narrative. And I love that we in America have the freedom to write books such as Don’t Go, a book about the very heroes who have fought for our freedoms, including the freedom of speech.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author of seventeen novels including her most recent, THINK TWICE, and also writes a weekly column, called Chick Wit, for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has won many honors and awards, notably the Edgar Award, given for excellence in crime fiction, and the Fun Fearless Female Award from Cosmopolitan Magazine. She also teaches a course she created, called Justice and Fiction at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and regularly does speaking engagements. There are twenty-five million copies of her books in print, and she is published in over thirty other countries. Lisa graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. degree in English, and her concentration was Contemporary American Fiction, taught by Philip Roth and others. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She remains a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area, where she lives with her array of disobedient pets.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter

Meet Me in Barcelona - Review & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

No matter how deep you bury a secret, they always tend to make their way to the surface eventually …

It’s been a tough time for Grace.  Dealing with her mother’s illness and her going into hospice care is at the top of the list.  But the horrible review that big-time music producer, Marsh Everett, gave Grace in Country Weekly was definitely up there too.  The timing couldn’t have been better for her boyfriend to win a trip for two to Spain.  She knew it would make for a great respite for all that’s been going on in her life. 

While in Spain, strange messages kept popping up.  First was the one in the matchbook that read, ‘Meet me in Barcelona.’  Then one was found in a book that was Grace’s favorite as a young girl.  But it wasn’t until she found an envelope that was slid under their room door that Grace was certain of who was leaving these “clues”. 

As a child, Grace’s parents took in foster children.  Carrie Ann came to them at nine years old and was the same age as Grace.  Although Grace always wanted a sister, something about Carrie Ann frightened her a bit.  She wanted to be a magician when she grew up and was one to always leave behind clues.  So when these strange clues kept popping up, Grace knew that it had to be her!  She had spent the last fifteen years trying to forget about her foster sister, but Carrie Ann was not one to go quietly.  She always had a motive and bad things seemed to follow her.  Currently running from an abusive relationship, she hopes that Grace will be there for her and not disappear like she had done many years before!

Mary Carter has a gift of captivating her readers from the first page, making it impossible to put the book down until you reach the very end.  This book was so mysterious and unpredictable.  I felt like I was on a literary scavenger hunt!  Meet Me In Barcelona is a must read for anyone who craves adventure in an exotic locale.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

MARY CARTER is a novelist and writing coach. Her novel with Kensington Books takes you on a heartbreaking journey through Italy in THREE MONTHS IN FLORENCE. Previous works include intrigue in a lighthouse with THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU, a journey to Ireland in THE PUB ACROSS THE POND, (also available as an audiobook through Blackstone Audio), a tale of twin sisters, one Deaf, one hearing in MY SISTER'S VOICE, a young woman trying to help a boy find his father in, SUNNYSIDE BLUES, a misguided psychic in ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED, and a troubled kleptomaniac who falls in love in SHE'LL TAKE IT. In addition to her novels she has written four novellas: A Christmas Carousel in the upcoming anthology, NO PLACE LIKE HOME, A Kiss Before Midnight in the anthology YOU'RE STILL THE ONE, A Very Maui Christmas in the New York Times bestselling anthology HOLIDAY MAGIC, and The Honeymoon House in the New York Times bestselling anthology ALMOST HOME. Her novels have been translated in the UK, France, Germany, China, South Korea, Brazil, Portugal, and Romania. Mary just moved to Wilmington NC where she writes and hangs out with her energetic labradoodle.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter

Rafflecopter Giveaway!!!

Mary Carter is generously giving a signed winner's choice copy of: THREE MONTHS IN FLORENCE, THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU, MY SISTER'S VOICE, SHE'LL TAKE IT, SUNNYSIDE BLUES, or OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS (Advanced Reading Copy headlining Lisa Jackson)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

After I Do - Review & Giveaway

 Blurb:

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.

Buy the book

Amazon Paperback * Amazon Kindle

Review by Marlene Engel

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, like a million butterflies are taking flight?  The electricity that shoots through your whole body when your hand brushes his or he glances your way?  Or the way it feels like a fire is lit under your skin when you both embrace or his lips touch yours?  There’s just something so magical and profound about new love.  A feeling like no other and one that you wish would never end.  Then there comes a time in your relationship, after you’ve gotten to know each other, after your first fight and after the newness starts to fade.  A time when everything is no longer exciting and new, when you’re no longer looking through rose colored glasses, when things get static.  That’s the place that Ryan and Lauren are at.  Gone are the days of longing for each other and anticipating their next encounter.  Current are the lonely days and passionless nights.  Not quite ready for a divorce, but both knowing that something needs to change, they reluctantly decide to do a trial separation.  For one year they will go their separate ways and cut off all communication.  They are free to do as they please during this time with the hope that, when they get back together in a year, the love that has gone will have found its way back.  As the old adage goes … absence makes the heart grow fonder.  Or, in this case, will absence make the heart wander?

What do you do when the romance has fizzled and the love is gone?

Join Ryan and Lauren in their journey of love, loss and self-discovery.  The ups and downs of a relationship and the people who are there to help you pick up the pieces.  The author writes a brilliant story that will make you both laugh and cry, but gives you a raw look inside the triumphs and struggles of a relationship and how these two people had to leave each other in hopes of finding themselves.

Put this book at the top of your to-be-read pile.  Such a page turner!  You won’t be able to put this book down until you’ve reached the last page. 

About the author:

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author and essayist from Acton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Emerson College with a degree in Media Studies. Her first novel, Forever, Interrupted, was named one of the “11 Debuts We Love” by Kirkus Reviews. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alex, and her dog, Rabbit. Her forthcoming novel, After I Do, will be published July 1, 2014.

Connect with the author:

Facebook * Twitter * Website * Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fated For Love - Review & Giveaway

Fated for Love

The Braden’s Series Book 8

By: Melissa Foster

Releasing July 14^th, 2014

Blurb

Librarian Callie Barnes has visions of reading and relaxing—and maybe having a few too many drinks—on her girls’ weekend away. Her hopes are crushed when her friends pull into a dude ranch instead of a spa, and she refuses to stay longer than one night. That is…until she realizes the ranch is owned by sinfully sexy, and dangerously rugged, Wes Braden—the subject of her late-night fantasies.

Fearless rancher Wes Braden thinks he’s the luckiest guy on the planet when the sweet, sexy librarian from his hometown shows up at his ranch. Their connection is white-hot, making it impossible for either to ignore their carnal desires. Wes is more than willing to convert sweet Callie from chick lit to a world of erotic romance, but Callie ties sex to love, and Wes avoids commitment like the plague.

Callie is thrust into physically demanding activities that ignite her deepest fears. Luckily, Wes is as tender as he is strong, and he’s there every step of the way to help her find her inner strength. With Callie’s influence, Wes might even discover that he’s been nursing a few fears of his own. Passion pulls Callie and Wes from their safe, comfortable lives into each other’s arms, and they’re about to find out just how alike they really are.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * B&N * iTunes * Kobo

Review by Marlene Engel

Melissa Foster has done it again with another hot, hunky Braden for us to swoon over!  This time it’s sexy, cowboy Wes Braden.  And if his six plus feet of rock hard muscle doesn’t make you melt, his love for reading surely will!  Or, at least, it did with me.  I love me some sexy nerd boys in disguise!

To the average person, Thursdays might not be the most exciting day, but to Callie it’s the day of the week that she most looks forward to.  That’s because it’s the day Wes stops by the library to pick up the books she’s pulled for him.  As a librarian, she’s used to helping people find books.  But she takes special care in picking out the ones for Wes.  There’s just something about Wes that makes Callie start casting him as the lead hunk in the books in her mind.  But a guy like Wes wouldn’t be interested in a girl like Callie.  She sees the way the other women at the library come in droves to gawk Wes.  They’ve obviously caught on that he’s a Thursday regular.  But it doesn’t stop her from fantasizing about him …

Callie’s friends are concerned that she’s spending too much time with her nose in a book, so they have organized a girl’s weekend to the spa … or so they told her!  When they pull into a dude ranch Callie is anything but excited to be there.  That is, until she realizes that it’s owned by the man of her dreams, Wes Braden!  Maybe this weekend isn’t going to be so bad after all.  Although the eye candy is nice, Callie’s fears are put to the test.  Thankfully Wes is there to hold her hand through it all.

Throw on your cowboy boots and your ten gallon hat!  Melissa Foster has treated us to another hot book that will have you melting like an ice cube in the sun!  If you haven’t read the previous books in the Love in Bloom series … WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???  There are more hunky men and sexy girls in this series than you’ll know what to do with!  

About the Author:
Melissa Foster is an award-winning, International bestselling author. Her books have been recommended by USA Today's book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, the World Literary Café. When she's not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on  Fostering Success. Melissa is also a community builder for the Alliance for Independent Authors. She has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine. 

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * My social network for women * World Literary Café * Fostering Success * Facebook (Fanpage) * Goodreads 

Rafflecopter Giveaway

(Two Digital Copies of TAKEN BY LOVE, Braden’s Book Seven)

a Rafflecopter giveaway