REVIEW/RELEASE BLITZ: Nerdgasm by Kimberly Reese

Series: Naughty Nerds #0.5

Genre: New Adult/Contemporary Romance

~Blurb~

nerdgasm (noun):
an emotional climax at the peak of intense (sometimes sexual) excitement, characterized by a deep attraction to nerdy things and/or people.

My stutter makes it easy to become the center of attention for all the wrong reasons, so I try hard to stay out of the spotlight.

But when Addison Mitchell breezes into the class I TA for, she turns my world upside down, shaking me out of my comfort zone.

Confident and bold, her wandering hands set my body on fire.

She sees the real me, and she’s still interested.

I’m completely out of my element, yet I’ve never felt more alive.

Fingers crossed we're not a one-off fling.

I have a lot to learn, but I’m willing to make this work.

I’m going to give her more than a nerdgasm.

I’m going to give her my heart. 

GOODREADS

  ~Book Review~

4.25 Stars

Graduate student and TA, Theo Cadwell, 23, has dealt with a stuttering problem since childhood. But undergrad Addison Mitchell finds it “adorkable.”

Cutting straight to the chase, the most refreshing thing about this novella is the reverse sexual experience imbalance that doesn’t happen nearly enough in the romance world.  The manwhore and the virgin is so overdone a fork should have been stuck in it a long time ago.  So squeal a little over this scenario where the hero is the virgin and the heroine has experience!

“I may be the one popping Theo’s cherry for actual penetration, but he’s effectively ruining me for other men.”

And it gets better. The heroine isn’t shy, meek, or self conscious. Addy has no problem telling Theo what she likes.

“‘Oh, my God, please do that again,’ I cry out when he presses against a sensitive spot inside me.”

It was a pleasure to read about a heroine who’s comfortable with her body and her pleasure and who isn’t afraid to make the first move.  I also enjoyed the low angst factor; the conflict here was fitting and raised some interesting points. The resolution was a nice turn of events. While I did think maybe Demi overstepped her place, overall the situation was handled with maturity. There’s no contrived drama here, and the plot avoids the tired student-teacher trope dilemmas.

Theo is an all round good guy.  And this story just shows that “research” and good advice can be sexier and seriously hotter than sleeping around. (Oh definitely hotter!)

I’m definitely interested in seeing where this Naughty Nerds series is going. I gotta say, Professor Cohen did sorta steal the show in his scenes so I hope he gets a steamy and swoonworthy book for himself. The Mission Orange scene was very titillating.

Told via their dual alternating 1^st person POV, this is a sweet, sexy, and safe romance with positive representations of love. 

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

Kimberly Reese published her first novel in 2017 and has since been hard at work writing more steamy stories. She grew up in a military family and is currently working on her tan in Arizona. When she isn't writing, you can catch her reading, traveling, resisting the urge to adopt more dogs, or spending time with family.

AMAZON    BOOKBUB    FACEBOOK     
FACEBOOK GROUP    GOODREADS   INSTAGRAM    NEWSLETTER/WEBSITE    TWITTER

~Giveaway~
a Rafflecopter giveaway

REVIEW/RELEASE BLITZ: Shameless King by Maya Hughes

Genre: New Adult Romance

~Blurb~

 A deliciously steamy enemies with benefits romance.

Declan McAvoy. Voted Biggest Flirt. Highest goal scorer in Kings of Rittenhouse Prep history.

Everyone’s impressed, well except one person…

After a blow out in high school, Makenna Halstead and I were happy to never have to cross paths again. Except life has a way of knocking you straight in the teeth with a puck when you least expect it. She hasn’t just returned to my life, she crashed into it like a wrecking ball...into my college kingdom, into my class, and smack dab into the seat next to mine. My new lab partner to be exact.

For years we hated each other... I may be King on the ice, but she is the Ice Queen. She has no problem calling me out, doesn’t back down, and her piercing blue eyes have me picturing more than than just my arms wrapped around her.

Now we’re stuck with each other and there’s no getting around that fact that we have to work together. My hockey career hangs in the balance. Problem? Oh, yeah.

I can’t deny it. I want her. More than I ever thought I could want a woman. I’ve got one semester–only four months–to convince her everything she thought about me was wrong.

Will my queen let me prove to her I’m the King she can’t live without?

 Only one way to find out…

GOODREADS

~Book Review~

4 Stars

Declan McAvoy is the jock hockey player with aspiration to the NHL. Makenna Halstead is the aloof studious girl with aspirations for Stanford. They are both full of assumptions and misread each other at every pass in high school. But when a turn of events in college throws them together with the same goal, they get the chance to see each other for who they really are.

“I’d entered a different plane where a guy like Declan stood waiting for me outside work like an 80s movie version of a prince.”

Told via their alternating first person POV, the story opens with the tale of these two and their friends in high school as they approach graduation. While included in the ARC I received, this is technically the series prologue, now available as a separate free novella. It’s a lot of introductions to make and follow, but these supporting characters are getting their own books at some point. Then the story jumps back to prom (I assume this is the prologue to the actual book) before moving forward four years in the future to their senior year of college. I’ll admit, I struggled a little in these early parts. And then I struggled with a scene that would have benefited from an editorial deletion. Declan waking up hung-over with another girl, though one he thankfully did not have sex with before passing out, didn’t add anything to the story and just delayed any kind of connection between him and Mak. Aside from being unromantic, it also felt really unnecessary.

But once the story settled into Mak and Declan getting to know each other and working together, the romantic development started to shine through. Though I hadn’t felt a whole lot of chemistry between them prior, that changed once they hit the sheets.

“…beckoning me closer like a siren to the rocks of pleasure, ready to shred me. But I didn’t want to change course now. I couldn’t. She owned me.”

First, wow, how refreshing that the hero feels owned instead of the heroine for once! That line was a nice change of pace. Second, Declan was quite impressive in the bedroom. He’s like the energizer bunny with a rechargeable battery. It was totally hot yet heartfelt at the same time. I might have even been tempted to read those chapters more than once. ;-)

“Watching her come apart was my favorite sight in the world. I’d rather watch her than hockey. I roared out her name and followed her…”

Declan turned out to be a pretty solid guy I adored how he was all in for Mak and didn’t give up once he got to really know her. I also got a kick out of how the tables got turned on Declan; the “ghosted” scenes with the guys was cute.

Both Mak and Declan have some family baggage that they have to work through, but the themes fit the new adult college romance angle.

As for future books, I’m definitely intrigued by Heath and interested in his story. He seemed like he has the has potential to make his girl swoon.  I was sorta fascinated by him so I hope his book is hot like this one too. Avery and Emmet’s story would be a pass for me though based off his fall into manwhore land.  Everyone else I’m still trying to keep straight. ;-)

$2.99 for release week only!

AMAZON US AMAZON UK AMAZON CA AMAZON AU

FREE in Kindle Unlimited

Read the Series Prequel

GOODREADS

FREE for a limited time!

AMAZON US AMAZON UK AMAZON CA AMAZON AU

~Playlist~

Maya Hughes is a Jersey girl, no not that kind! And she also thinks it’s super weird to talk about herself in third person :) I’m a romance writer who loves taking inspiration from everyday life, the music I listen to, and the people I know to create stories that sparkle and shine. I’m the mom of three little ones, the wife to an amazing husband and also work full time. Some of my favorite things are cinnamon rolls, white wine, laughing until I can’t breathe and traveling with my family.

FACEBOOK FACEBOOK GROUP INSTAGRAM BOOK + MAIN BOOKBUB TWITTER NEWSLETTER WEBSITE

~Giveaway~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BOOK REVIEW: Knocked Up (Crazy Love #2) by Stacey Lynn

2.75/3 Stars

Cara Thompson, 24, and Braxton Henley, 28, shared a one night stand at mutual friends’ wedding. The night left them still lusting after each other and with a unique wedding favor.

Told via their dual first person POV, the story started out engaging, and I felt their chemistry. I could also see both sides of their conflicts. Brax was kinda hot and had a lot of potential. I liked his determination to accept the situation, his interest in the baby, his desire for Cara, and to commit.

“Sure, it happened well before I was ready, and absolutely unprepared, but life wouldn’t be life if it didn’t throw you a curveball every once in a while.”

For the most part, I liked Brax. (at that stage)

With the exception of one not so tiny character flaw—he’d been a manwhore right up until the point Cara seeks him out about the pregnancy. That of course means he also wasn’t celibate during the six weeks they didn’t see each other. I don’t know why tidbits like this are thrown into romances. And then brought up again to the reader as the romantic duo are about to get it on.

Really it just sours the romantic vibe. Is it so much to ask for a romantic hero to keep it in his pants for 6 weeks??? (Total rhetorical question for the record.)

“‘I was honestly just trying to fuck the memory of you out of my head.’”

The trite excuse of trying to get the heroine out of his mind is just clichéd writing.

Kudos though to the heroine who echoes my sentiment:

“‘That’s disgusting.’ My brows furrow. If he thinks I’ll be flattered by his admission, I’m not.”

Ah but sadly Cara’s bravado doesn’t last long and she settles back into her MO of self-doubt. Actually both Brax and Cara seem to suffer some self esteem issues. And then after a certain point in the story, Brax seems to undergo a bit of a character overhaul and not for the better.

This story definitely could have earned a higher rating if it would have abandoned some of the tropes and stereotypes that have been around the block in the romance world a million times.

Though be it a fairly popular romance scenario, I don’t think unplanned pregnancy between strangers is always the easiest to pull off, namely because the stakes are so much higher—a child’s stability hangs in the balance. The narrative has the burden of convincing the reader that these two will be compatible partners and parents. Show (through depictions) is always better than tell. But this tale contains a lot of inner monologuing—often focused on figuring each other out, which is realistic at this stage of their relationship. But back to the challenge when you introduce a bigger responsibility in the relationship, I needed to see more examples of these two prospering for the long haul, not just in the immediate insta-love/lust stage.

On the pregnancy issue, one topic of conversation kinda bugged me. And it’s not all her puking although that got old too. It was emphasis on the baby’s gender. For one, it kept reinforcing this “modern” notion that the sex must be revealed before the birth. I mean, it’s portrayed as such an agony that they don’t know how to refer to the little bundle of joy. Having had two children whose genders remained a mystery till they popped out of my body, I can affirm that it was hardly a hardship to simply refer to them as “the baby.” That nice little gender neutral noun worked just fine. And then the gender conversation for these two turned a little…sexist perhaps, definitely hypocritical, when Brax asserted that he wanted a son because basically he didn’t want to deal with the future teenage boys a daughter would eventually attract. (Which also assumes this kid’s sexuality before it’s even born).

Let’s stop and think about this message a moment. This guy has been escorting one night stands to the Uber right up until the day he found out he’s going to be a father, and yet the idea of a daughter eventually becoming a sexual being makes him…not want to deal. Sure no parent wants to think about their kids having sex anymore than a kid wants to envision their parents doing the horizontal tango; but my point is there’s no moment of revelation for this guy. No epiphany. No awakening. No point where he sees the big picture and realizes that his behavior is the very thing he’s appalled about.

Moving along, the steamy times arrive a little late in the game for the readers, problematic only because they clearly haven’t for the couple. I do wish the prologue would have been their ONS since it’s only mentioned as being quite hot but never shown. It would have also been helpful to see this pair during their initial connection, before pregnancy complicated things.

Bottom line, the having-a-baby-together plot line mixed with misunderstanding felt immature. The romantic development faltered under the weight of drama.

GOODREADS    AMAZON

COVER REVEAL: Lucky Scars by Kerry Heavens

 

Release Date: July 3, 2018

~Blurb~

Not every love story begins with a fiery explosion of lust.

Some are tiny embers of hope that smoulder slowly until the stars align…

I’d been living in a bubble.
It was meant to protect me from the things in life that hurt. 
I could live, I could laugh, but at least I didn’t have to love.
Loving was dangerous and I would never do it again.

It was working just fine, until the bubble burst.
It let in danger.
It let in light.
It let in…him.

Unknowingly I’d been living in the dark, feeling my way. 
He filled my world with starlight. 
He showed me how to move on to the next level.
He made me feel again.

I thought the wounds from the past would never fully heal,
But perhaps they only heal when the time is right.

Sometimes you just have to thank your lucky scars.

GOODREADS

Cover Designer: Rebel Graphics

~Pre-Order~

 Amazon US UK CA AU

Kobo iBooks

Kerry Heavens is a London born indie author, iPhone addict & general ray of sunshine! Kerry writes: sometimes sweet, sometimes not, often funny, always hot, real romance, dirty romcoms and other such smut.

Website Facebook Author Page Facebook Reader Group Instagram Twitter Goodreads Book+main bites

RELEASE/REVIEW: Captivated by Tessa Bailey & Eve Dangerfield

Genre: Contemporary Romance

~Blurb~

Secret aspiring comedian Autumn Reynolds is a girl gone...not wild exactly. More like lazy. Since her boyfriend abandoned her in New York City for a bunch of improv groupies she’s had two priorities; sucking the nitrous out of whipped cream cans and making sex comics about her mysterious landlord.

Blake hates people—and sunlight—with good reason. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself lusting after his upstairs tenant, a sunny, Australian people pleaser down on her luck. Turns out his ability to terrify with a single scowl comes with an advantage. Autumn seems to like it. A lot. As evidenced by the prisoner-captive comic Blake was never meant to see.  

As they embark on a three-date arrangement the rules are clear; filthy, ground breaking sex, no feelings or commitment required. When chemistry is this strong, though, attachment follows. As Blake and Autumn attempt to negotiate their New York romance, their prior histories and secret dreams come to the foreground. How long can these polar opposites remain Captivated, when all signs point to disaster?

~Book Review~

DNF

Autumn Reynolds is a down on her luck, just been dumped, veterinarian who’s not satisfied with her body image and hoards injured pigeons in her apartment. Blake Munroe is her bruiting, hulk of a man landlord.

I gotta say, I questioned at times if this story was supposed to be taken seriously. Like, with the right comedic actors it might have been a pretty good parody of a romance. But as a real feel-the-chemistry and swoon romance—not so much.  As a romcom—nah. I rolled my eyes more than I cracked a smile.

The characters came off too much as caricatures. Autumn is the rambling, bumbling, put her foot in her mouth heroine who holds a special place in her heart for captivity kink. So much so that she illustrates it. Now the comic might be kinda cool if she owned it, but Autie (whose name I kept seeing as Auntie) isn’t badass. At all. She’s just comes off desperate, needy, and insecure. Her latent desires to become a submissive would make Anastasia Grey proud.

“‘I-I think I want you to stalk me.’”

Meanwhile, Blake harbors some angsty secret. It’s made him a recluse. Physically, Blake is described as…well he’s not your ordinary romantic hero.  I had a hard time not picturing him as the love child between Disney’s Beast and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

 “‘…he always looks like someone just punched his mum, but he’s really quite sexy. Kind of broad and hairy and angry-looking.’”

Don't get me wrong, every romance hero doesn't have to be drop-dead gorgeous, but when he's described more animal-like than human, it's not exactly a turn-on.

 “Not that Blake had any room to judge someone’s appearance—not with the pissed off Yeti aesthetic he had going on…”

My issues with connecting to the characters and the story weren’t helped by the 3^st person POV. There’s just something about a distant narrator in romance that makes it feel as if it’s being told by a voice-over. I’d much rather have the characters tell me about themselves; otherwise, it feels detached and makes it difficult for me to connect with them.

By 35% it was just too much of a struggle to read on. I was tired of hearing about Autumn’s ex from both characters, annoyed with Autumn’s inability to form coherent sentences, bored with the side characters, and getting disturbing vibes from their “romance.” The lines between liberating role play and you-have-some-issues were getting too blurred for my enjoyment.

GOODREADS

Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention. She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of ten years andsix-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.

Eve Dangerfield has loved romance novels since she first started swiping her grandmother’s paperbacks. Now she writes her own sexy tales about complex women and gorgeous-but-slightly-tortured men. Her work has been described as ‘the defibrillator contemporary romance needs right now,’ and not by herself, or even her mum, but by OTHER PEOPLE. Eve lives in Melbourne with her boy, a bunch of semi-dead plants and a rabbit named Billy. When she's not writing she can be found making a mess.

COVER REVEAL: Shameless King by Maya Hughes

Genre: New Adult Romance
Release Date: June 28, 2018

~Blurb~
A deliciously steamy enemies with benefits romance.

Declan McAvoy. Voted Biggest Flirt. Highest goal scorer in Kings of Rittenhouse Prep history.

Everyone’s impressed, well except one person…

After a blow out in high school, Makenna Halstead and I were happy to never have to cross paths again. Except life has a way of knocking you straight in the teeth with a puck when you least expect it. She hasn’t just returned to my life, she crashed into it like a wrecking ball...into my college kingdom, into my class, and smack dab into the seat next to mine. My new lab partner to be exact.

For years we hated each other... I may be King on the ice, but she is the Ice Queen. She has no problem calling me out, doesn’t back down, and her piercing blue eyes have me picturing more than than just my arms wrapped around her.

Now we’re stuck with each other and there’s no getting around that fact that we have to work together. My hockey career hangs in the balance. Problem? Oh, yeah.

I can’t deny it. I want her. More than I ever thought I could want a woman. I’ve got one semester–only four months–to convince her everything she thought about me was wrong.

Will my queen let me prove to her I’m the King she can’t live without?

Only one way to find out...

GOODREADS

Cover Design: Letitia Hasser, RBA Designs

READ THE FREE PREQUEL TODAY!

AMAZON GOODREADS

Maya Hughes is a Jersey girl, no not that kind! And she also thinks it’s super weird to talk about herself in third person :) I’m a romance writer who loves taking inspiration from everyday life, the music I listen to, and the people I know to create stories that sparkle and shine.

I’m the mom of three little ones, the wife to an amazing husband and also work full time. Some of my favorite things are cinnamon rolls, white wine, laughing until I can’t breathe and traveling with my family.

INSTAGRAM    BOOKBUB   AMAZON   BOOK+MAIN   TWITTER   FACEBOOK PAGE   FACEBOOK GROUP    NEWSLETTER   WEBSITE

~Giveaway~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BOOK REVIEW: Snapshot by Rebel Farris

~Blurb~

Love stories don’t usually start with tripping over a dead body.

But mine did. That’s when I met him.

Xander Novak wasn’t like the guys from around here. The cowboy with a mysterious accent had secrets, sure. But he helped me escape certain death and welcomed me into his home.

Or did he? Because his home could be my safe haven… or it could be my prison.

And I could be walking straight into the arms of a killer.

GOODREADS

~Book Review~

2.75/3 Stars (3 stars for the mystery-suspense/2.75 for the romance)

Rosie Dominquez, 23, is a waitress, scrapping by while living in a trailer park in Texas. On her day off, in a quest to get some peace and quiet from her neighbors, she sets off into the woods to read and take some landscape photography.  There she discovers a dead body and meets Xander Novak, 32.

A note to the millennial readers: This story is set in 1989. Translation: the characters aren’t using cell phones, cameras require rolls of film, Willard Scott is the Today show weatherman, and Czechoslovakia is a country.  Old enough to remember those days, I didn’t mind the time frame. In fact, it was a bit of a refreshing change. 

This story is actually the prequel to the author’s Falling Small Duet, although it can be read as a standalone. None the less, I feel that knowledge might be prudent to some readers. See safety recap.

I swayed a little on my rating of this one, mostly because I think it depends on the genre you’re looking to read it in. It’s a romantic suspense with thriller overtones. The suspense tone and mood is developed well, and it pulled me in as a mystery more than a romance, mostly because I didn’t become attached to either Rosie or Xander, nor was their chemistry palpable. I kept reading mainly to find out what happens and how everything fit together rather than because I was invested in them as a couple.

Told solely via Rosie’s first person POV, romance readers (like myself) who enjoy the stranded together trope for its absence of OW/OM presence will appreciate the set up.  I think the story started off strong, but dropped off as it progressed.

Safety Recap:

No cheating. No sex scene w/OP. No OW/OM drama. H is not a manwhore and has been celibate for a while; h is not a virgin. No rape or sexual abuse although there is a brief moment where attempted rape is suggested. There is no cliffhanger, but based on a review of the Duet series I can’t say this is technically an HEA. It feels like an HEA if you read this as a standalone, but it appears if you keep reading the other books it is actually a HFN as h ultimately dies in first book of the Duet series, set many years later.

AMAZON 

REVIEW/RELEASE BLITZ: His Mimosa by Jamie Schlosser

Series: The Cocktail Girls

Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance Novella

~Synopsis~

Carter doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happily ever after. When he goes to Vegas for his brother’s bachelor party, the last thing he expects is Brynne, the beautiful cocktail waitress who nurses his hangover with a drink just as bubbly and sweet as she is.

Brynne’s optimism and unfailing faith in love is a breath of fresh air, and it makes him think maybe he’s had it wrong all along.

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. And Carter’s heart? It might be taking up permanent residence there.

GOODREADS

Cover Designer: PopKitty Design

~Book Review~

4.5 Stars

Brynne Watson, 24, is a cocktail waitress in Vegas working the hang-over shift. Carter Hayes, 27, is hung-over.  He’s also struggling with his outlook on love and marriage in the wake of his brother’s nuptials. But his doubts and gloom are about to be tested when the pessimist meets the optimist.  

Brynne was a breath of fresh air. Not just for Carter but in the grand scheme of heroines of the romance world. She doesn’t let life get her down, but she’s not naïve either. She knows the odds but she’s always willing to take the gamble. If you enjoy upbeat and smart heroines, Brynne should be a winner for you.

Carter, I warmed to him right away.  There was just something about his mix of cynicism and vulnerability that was endearing. He was really cute.

Even though it was just supposed to be a hook-up for them, it wasn’t hard to sense that something so much more was brewing. I was getting butterflies too.

“‘The truth is, I’ve known you for less than two hours and you’re already one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.’”

Told via their dual first person POV, Carter and Brynne manage to rock those butterfly moments with sweet I’m-falling-for-you lovemaking and wall pounding I-gotta-have-you-now sex all in one afternoon.  

“‘I think we might’ve just discovered a kink we didn’t know we had.’”

And then it’s topped off with a tug on your heartstrings scene.  

I think novellas can be a challenge when it comes to developing the characters; every scene, every nuisance has to count. And it does here. It works.  I was pulled in from the very start and stayed engaged as the tale pulls off a combined insta-lust and insta-love in a way that captures a convincing “love at first sight” experience.  

When they finally allowed themselves to play twenty questions, I really wanted them to keep going because I wanted to get to know them more too.  None the less, the “reveal” or the question I’d wondered different times was a cute and fitting answer.

Lastly, this isn’t something I usually comment on, although I do notice it having once worked in publishing, but the formatting here was nicely done. The chapter headings very visually appealing.

All in all, a sweet, safe, and super hot Vegas romance. 

AMAZON * AMAZON UK
AMAZON AU * AMAZON CA

Jamie Schlosser grew up on a farm in Illinois surrounded by cornfields. Although she no longer lives in the country, her dream is to return to rural living someday. As a stay-at-home mom, she spends most of her days running back and forth between her two wonderful kids and her laptop. She loves her family, iced coffee, and happily-everafters.

Facebook * Twitter