Thursday, March 31, 2016

Book Review: The CEO's Unexpected Child

Author: Andrea Laurence
Title: The CEO's Unexpected Child
Publisher: Harlequin Desire
Publish Date: March 1, 2016
Buy: Amazon
CLAIMING HIS CHILD…AT ANY COST

A shocking fertility clinic mix-up has resulted in Luca Moretti fathering a child with a woman he's never met. There's no way the CEO will walk aw.ay from his baby girl. But he has thirty days to convince her distractingly beautiful mother to do exactly what he wants.

Widow Claire Douglas is still reeling from the loss of her husband when she discovers a stranger has fathered her child. And the rich bachelor will stop at nothing to gain joint custody. How can she possibly fight a man with such money and power…and a charm she can't resist?


Review: I've read several Harlequins that have weightier subject matter lately. This is definitely one of those books.

A mix
up at a fertility clinic causes two unlikely people to have a baby, especially since they don't know one another.

I liked  Claire and Luca, both characters were the type that you could feel for her. Imagine if a man you don't is the father of your child and wants custody.

It bothered me that it took so long for the author to clue us in on why Luca had used a fertility clinic. When that was revealed, I let out a groan, because I knew what was going to happen. There were no ifs ands or buts about what was going to happen. I'd say what they issue was, but it would be a huge spoiler.

All that aside, I liked the romance between the two. Luca was definitely father material and he deserved to be part of Eva's life. Claire definitely deserved a better relationship than the one she had with her husband, so these two really worked well together. They were both broken individuals, but were strong too.

I especially loved Luca's family and how devoted they were to him and his happiness. If the issue with his health would have been done more realistically this would have been a fantastic book.

Rating: 4 flowers






Tasty Book Tours Book Review: Her One True Love


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HER ONE TRUE LOVE
Rachel Brimble
Released March 15th, 2016
Lyrical Press


She Can't Forget Him…

Jane Charlotte Danes has loved the squire of her idyllic country town for as long as she can remember. He is good, kind, and alluring beyond words… and he chose to marry another. Tired of dwelling on her futile longings, Jane plans a move to Bath, where she dreams of a new beginning. But the man who has so imprisoned her heart is only a few steps behind…

He Can't Let Her Go…

Until now, Matthew Cleaves has endeavored to meet the responsibilities of his position with dignity and good spirits--including his dutiful marriage. But when his wife leaves him for another man, Matthew is at last free to pursue his one true love. Only one vital question remains: will the captivating, stubborn, beautiful Jane allow him the challenge, and the pleasure, of winning her back?...

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I've read a lot of books by Rachel Brimble, especially her books for Harlequin Superromance. She writes smart books. That smart quality extends to her historical romances too. This isn't your typical historical romance, because Matthew is trying to win her after his wife leaves him. In fact, his relationship status doesn't change through much of the book.  Definitely not what you'd see in your usual Victorian romance. I like that, because things always need shaking up when it comes to romance.

Jane is a very headstrong character. She's smart and she knows what she wants. I'm actually surprised that when it came to Matthew she didn't go after him from the start and for a woman that thinks for herself that she worried about convention.

She moves to Bath to be a sort of social worker, helping needy children. I liked that she was socially aware, but even when it came to getting her job, things came without much of a struggle and even the woman that runs the boarding house seems to take to her fairly quickly

I felt sorry for Matthew, who was really between a rock and a hard place. I wish there would have been a little more drama with Elizabeth to be more convincing. Elizabeth gave in too quickly for my liking.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, but it would have been better if there were a little more conflict.

If you are looking for something different plot wise, this is definitely a book to give a try. I recommend Rachel Brimble's books highly and this one definitely!

Rating: 4 flowers



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Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had five books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and three Victorian romances by eKensington/Lyrical.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. 

When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.

She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!



Tasty Book Tours Book Excerpt: Summer At Little Beach Street Bakery


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SUMMER AT LITTLE BEACH STREET BAKERY


SUMMER AT LITTLE BEACH STREET BAKERY
Little Beach Street Bakery #2
Jenny Colgan
Releasing March 22nd, 2016
William Morrow


The New York Times-bestselling author of Little Beach Street Bakery and Christmas at the Cupcake Café returns with a delightful new novel-with recipes!-that is already an international bestseller and is perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Meg Donohue, and Sophie Kinsella.

For fans of Jojo Moyes and Elin Hilderbrand, an irresistible novel—moving and funny, soulful and sweet—about happiness, heartache, and hope. And recipes.

A thriving bakery. A lighthouse to call home. A handsome beekeeper. A pet puffin. These are the things that Polly Waterford can call her own. This is the beautiful life she leads on a tiny island off the southern coast of England.

But clouds are gathering on the horizon. A stranger threatens to ruin Polly’s business. Her beloved boyfriend seems to be leading a secret life. And the arrival of a newcomer—a bereft widow desperately searching for a fresh start—forces Polly to reconsider the choices she’s made, even as she tries to help her new friend through grief.

Unpredictable and unforgettable, this delightful novel will make you laugh, cry, and long for a lighthouse of your own. Recipes included.

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Chapter 1
“Stop it,” Polly said in a warning voice. “It’s not funny.”
Neil ignored her and continued to beat on the little high window with his beak until she could be persuaded to go over and give him a snack.
He was outside the lighthouse they had moved into the previous month, all three of them together, Polly, Neil the puffin, and Huckle, Polly’s American boyfriend, who has parked his motorbike and sidecar at the bottom of the tower. It was their only mode of transport.
The lighthouse hadn’t been lived in for a long time, not since the lamps were electrified in the late seventies. It has four floors and a circular staircase that ran around the sides, thus making it, as Huckle had pointed out more than once, the single draftiest place in human history. They were both getting very fit running up and down it. One floor held the heavy machinery that had one turned the workings, which couldn’t be removed. On the top floor, just below the light itself, was their sitting room, which has views right across the bay and, on the other side, back toward Mount Polbearne, the tidal island where they lived and worked, with its caseway to the mainland that covered and uncovered itself with the tides.
From these windows you could see the little Beach Street Bakery, the ruined shop that Polly had revitalized when she has moved to the village just over two years ago, getting over a failed business and a failed relationship back on the mainland.
She hadn’t originally expected to do much in Mount Polbearne except sit and lick her wounds until she was ready to head back into the fray again, back to working a corporate lifestyle; hadn’t for a moment thought that in the tumbledown flat above the shop she would come back to life by practicing her favorite hobby – baking bread – and that this would turn into a career when she reopened the old closed-down bakery.
It wasn’t the most lucrative of careers, and the hours were long, but the setting was so wonderful, and her work so appreciated, by both the townspeople and the tourists, that she had found something much satisfying than money: she has found what she was meant to be doing with her life. Well, most of the time she thought that. Sometimes she looked around at the very basic kitchen she had installed (her old flat in Plymouth had sold, and she’d managed to get the lighthouse at a knockdown price mostly, as Lance the estate agent had pointed out, because only an absolutely crazy person could possibly want to live in a draft, inaccessible tower with a punishing light shining out of it) and wondered if she’d ever manage to fix the window frames, the window frames being number one on a list of about four thousand things that urgently needed doing.
Huckle had offered to buy the place with her, but she had resisted. She had worked too hard to be independent. Once before she had shared everything, been entirely enmeshed financially with someone. It had not worked out, and she was in no mood to repeat the experience.
Right now, she wanted to sit in her eyrie of a sitting room at the very top of the house, drink tea, eat a cheese twist and simply relax and enjoy the view: the sea, ever changing; clouds scudding past so close she could touch them; the little fishing boats bobbing out across the water in faded greens and browns, their winches and nets heavy behind them, looking tiny and fragile against the vast expanse of the sea. She just needed five minutes’ peace and quiet before heading down to the bakery to relieve her colleague Jayden for the lunchtime shift.
Neil, the little puffin who had crashed into her life one night in a storm and remained there ever since, did not agree. He found the activity of flying outside, high up, and still being able to see her through the window utterly amazing, and liked to do it again and again, sometimes taking off to fly all the way around the lighthouse and come back in the other side, sometimes pecking at the glass because Huckle thought it was funny to feed him tidbits out of the window even though Polly had told him not to.
Polly put down her book and moved over to the window, struck as she never ceased to be – she wondered if she would ever grow tired at it – by the amazing cast of the sun silvering in and out behind the clouds over the waves, the gentle cawk of the seagulls and the whistling wind, which could turn thunderous on winter days. She still couldn’t quite believe she lived here. She opened the old-fashioned, single-glazed window with its heavy latch.
“Come in then,” she said, but Neil fluttered excitedly and tried to peck in between her fingers in case she had a tasty treat for him.
Jenny Colgan is one of my favorite authors. I admit I adore her Doctor Who books the best, and that is the reason why I found my way to reading her chicklit books.

This is the sequel to The Little Beach Street  Bakery which was a fabulous read. I adore Polly and Huckle. I recommend reading the Little Beach Street Bakery first, because it sets you up for this one because of a lot of the events in this book really continue on from the first book.

You get a dose of cute too with Neil the puffin who steals the show every scene that he's in.

For a chicklit this book there was a lot of drama, with Polly's bakery and the new owner and with her relationship with Huckle and lastly with Neil. This story had a soap opera feel to it, but not like the soaps we are used to in the US.

Another part of the story deals with Neil, who gets into a scuffle with a new residents cat. I have to say the parts of the story made me tearful, but not to give too much away, Neil is OK.

I was on pins and needles with the bakery situation, because Malcolm was such a scumbag and he really didn't seem to know business at all. The way he treated everyone was just horrific.  This actually made me nervous at times because I love Polly so much and I wanted only good things for her.

Huckle is such a great character too. He has great devotion to his family and Polly. Everyone should have a man like Huckle in their life.

If you love British fiction, you'll love this book.

Rating: 5 flowers


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Jenny Colgan is the New York Times-bestselling author of numerous novels, including Christmas at the Cupcake Café, Little Beach Street Bakery, and Meet Me at the Cupcake Café, all international bestsellers. Jenny is married with three children and lives in London and Scotland.


Wednesday, March 30, 2016

TLC Book Tours Book Review: Journey To Munich

About Journey to Munich

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper (March 29, 2016)
Working with the British Secret Service on an undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this thrilling tale of danger and intrigue—the twelfth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s New York Times bestselling “series that seems to get better with each entry” (Wall Street Journal).
It’s early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on the outskirts of Munich.
The British government is not alone in its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is also desperate for her help.
Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, Maisie encounters unexpected dangers—and finds herself questioning whether it’s time to return to the work she loved. But the Secret Service may have other ideas. . . .
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Review: I've been reading Maisie Dobbs mysteries for a long time. I've also been reading them out of order. This is book 12 and we're getting into WWII territory. It is amazing how much this one woman has gone through in these books.

My heart has broken for her through the past few recent books. She's really a strong woman. for her time. I think Maisie is growing some more as well after the tragedies of the past years.

This series is so wonderful, and it is hard to believe that 12 books in it is still going strong. I would love to see this series come to tv, especially when you have shows like Call The Midwife going strong.

Rating: 5 flowers

Book Review: A Forbidden Temptation

Author: Anne Mather
Title: A Forbidden Temptation
Publisher: Harlequin Presents
Publish Date: Feb 23, 2016
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: An unwanted desire…

With the death of his wife still raw, Jack Connolly's mood is dark and dangerous. He's not looking for a woman, until he meets buttoned-up but beautiful Grace Spencer, who stirs his senses back to life. Yet Jack cannot act on his feelings, as Grace belongs to another!

An impossible affair…

Trapped in a fake relationship to safeguard her family, Grace knows crossing the line with Jack would risk everything she holds dear. Beneath the hunger she sees in Jack's eyes is the promise of something more…but is it enough for her to surrender to a taste of the forbidden?

Review: I've read books by Anne Mather in the past.  She is name that is synonymous with the Presents line. This book had potential, but somewhere it just didn't quite work for me.

This is what I liked about the book.

1. The ghost of Jack's wife. I love a touch of paranormal in romances, especially ghosts.

2. Jack was an unusual hero. There was attraction there, but the romance was pretty much non-existent.

This is what I had problems with.

1. Grace and Jack, there was no real romance between them. Just weird encounters

2. The whole Sean thing. The guy was a total wankpuffin. I totally hated him and couldn't grasp why Grace was such a wimp when it came to him.

3. Grace was supposed to be a smart woman, but she let's everyone walk all over her. I can understand some of it, because she doesn't want to upset her mother who is getting over cancer treatments, but still, most of her behavior is uncomfortable and odd.

4. The sex was too gratuitous. I wanted a relationship to develop between the two of them, but it just didn't happen.

So yeah, this wasn't what I was expecting. It definitely didn't live up to past book by Anne.

Rating:  2 flowers

Tasty Book Tours Cover Reveal: Dishonor Thy Wife

Tasty Book Tours is thrilled to bring you the incredible cover
for 
DISHONOR THY WIFE


DISHONOR THY WIFE
Belinda Austin
Releasing June 13th, 2016
Cover by Cover Couture


A Sexless Marriage. A Dangerous Game. A Suspenseful Thriller. A Hot Romance.

After six years of a sexless forced marriage, Ronni finds she enjoys her husband spying through the keyhole of her bedroom door. She begins to perform for him, even remembering his past violent outbursts, because Brad returned home to Austin from a Philadelphia business trip a changed man.

Once Ronni has a taste of forbidden passion, she is addicted until Brad begins acting like a Jekyll-Hyde.

She believes Brad may be bipolar, never realizing that something far more sinister is going on.

What happened at a Philly medical convention sets off a chain of events that begs the question, does a woman really know the cracks beneath her husband's skin?


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Belinda is a former Software Engineer and Web Developer. She is a Zumbaholic. Belinda loves to create novels with twists and turns, and love stories that will squeeze your heart. Her goal is to entertain and touch you by making you laugh, cry, get angry: go through the emotional experience that makes us all human and by doing so humanize her characters.

Her aim with her books is to grab the reader by the shirt collar and drag him or her into the novel, and not let go until the end. She hopes that the reader will not just read her story, but experience it, with chills, blood pounding, brain bursting, etc.

Belinda was born in the Los Angeles area and lives in Texas.


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Tasty Book Tours Release Blast: Cuff Me


Enter to Win a Custom Mug, $25.00 Amazon Gift Card 
and a Print Set of FRISK ME and STEAL ME


CUFF ME
New York's Finest #3
Lauren Layne
Releasing on March 29th, 2016
Forever: Grand Central



Vincent knows he's not the most charming of the Moretti brothers. He prefers brooding to flirting, reading to talking, and he sure as hell isn't about to give into his mother's insistence that he 'settle down with a nice girl.' Luckily, Vincent's gig as one of the NYPD's top homicide detectives keeps him busy. As does his long-time partner, Jill Henley–a tough-as-nails cop with the face of an angel and smart mouth that makes Vincent crazy in all the worst ways.

After six years of working the homicide beat with the tight-lipped Vincent Moretti, Jill figure she knows him better than anyone. Which is not at all. But when their most recent case points to a potential serial-killer situation, the higher-ups send them on a rare undercover mission to a place no NYPD officer dares go: the Upper Eastside.

Now the bureau's most antagonistic set of partners is posing as Mr. and Mrs. Brooks of Park Avenue. Spending 24/7 in the suspect's territory brings them closer and closer to their killer . . . and closer to each other. Soon Vincent and Jill are playing good cop/bad cop in and out of bed, and Jill's falling hard. But can she convince Vincent to give her a shot as partner in life, as well as at the bureau?

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Lauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of more than a dozen contemporary romance novels.
Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. A year after moving from Seattle to NYC to pursue a writing career, she had a fabulous agent and multiple New York publishing deals. 
Lauren currently lives in Manhattan with her husband and plus-sized Pomeranian. When not writing, you'll likely find her running (rarely), reading (sometimes), or at happy hour (often).



Want More Moretti's?

Frisk Me
(New York's Finest #1)



STEAL ME
(New York's Finest #2) 


Book Review: Sweet Seduction

Author Daire St. Denis
Title: Sweet Seduction
Publisher: Harlequin Blaze
Publish Date: Feb 23, 2016
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb:Daisy Sinclair knows how to make a guy moan with raw pleasure. She should, as owner of the best damn bakery in Chicago. Her cinnamon buns are borderline orgasmic! Of course, standing in front of the city's biggest (and sexy-as-hell) food critic in her skivvies isn't the most professional first impression. Especially when he has a wicked glint in his eye…

Jamie Forsythe isn't exactly a food critic; his twin brother is. One look at Daisy's mouthwatering curves, and Jamie knows only that he wants to have his cake and Daisy, too. Attraction mixed with deception is a recipe for disaster—the naughtiest, hottest kind imaginable. And there's no way Jamie can resist being sent to bed…with Daisy as dessert!



Review: This is one of those books that I wanted to go on for ages. I really adored Daisy and I wanted more of her story. I also wanted to get to know Jamie and his brother Colin.

Jamie is just wonderful. I loved their flirtatious first encounter when he shows up to review Nana Sin's bakery.

Their relationship is full of ups and downs, because of a little twin switcheroo that has its own little bit of drama. I'm so glad that Colin is going to get his own story, because I want to know what is up with him. (He comes across as a bit of a stick in the mud at first, but at the end of the story he's almost as adorable as Jamie)

Daisy and Jamie have explosively hot sex sometimes it feels a little gratuitous but then I remember that this is a Blaze and that's what these books are about.

Daisy is going through a tough divorce and Jamie is unfortunately stuck working for her soon to be ex. Things get very complicated and it looks like Nana Sin's is going to have to close down.

That brings about more drama, which shows how loyal her friends are as well as Jamie.

This was truly one of the best Blaze novels I've read in ages.

Review 5 flowers


Monday, March 28, 2016

Tasty Book Tours Sale Blitz: Fighting For Devlin



FIGHTING FOR DEVLIN
Lost Boys #1
Jessica Lemmon
Released November 24th, 2015
Loveswept


Perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Katy Evans, Jessica Lemmon’s irresistible Lost Boys series kicks off with the story of a good girl who plays by the rules—and the bad boy who brings out her wild side.

Devlin Calvary makes his own luck. Orphaned as a young child, he was taken in by a crew of bookies and gamblers—and they became his family. They’re the reason Dev’s running a trendy bistro, living in a high rise, and enjoying the good life with a string of women who never ask for too much. Until, one night, he finds out how much it hurts to trust the wrong people. . . .

Rena Lewis sticks to the straight and narrow, determined not to slip up again . . . like the terrible night of partying four years ago that ended in tragedy. A waitress at Oak & Sage, she knows that sleeping with her boss is not a smart move. But when Dev shows up on her doorstep, beat up and clearly shaken, Rena’s not about to turn him down . . . or kick him out of bed.

Dev reawakens something primal within her—a need to go wild. And Rena soon finds out that the heart she’d sealed away years ago still has the power to fight for love.



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A former job-hopper, Jessica Lemmon resides in Ohio with her husband and rescue dog. She holds a degree in graphic design currently gathering dust in an impressive frame. When she’s not writing super-sexy heroes, she can be found cooking, drawing, drinking coffee (okay, wine), and eating potato chips. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want.



 
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