REVIEW/RELEASE: Spirited Away by Mary Billiter

Series: A Resort Romances Novel

Genre: Romantic Comedy
Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
 Release Date: October 31, 2017

~Blurb~

What happens when the legend of the old west becomes the new reality? In Mary Billiter’s fun novel of investigating the unknown and navigating love, a drop-dead sexy cop and a fiery redhead are linked by a mysterious haunting and the unsolved crime of passion behind it all.

When Reese Pemberton relocates from the Golden State to the Cowboy State for a corporate promotion, she discovers a different state of mind. From the hustle and bustle mayhem of the Bay Area to the slow and easy meanderings of Wyoming, Reese welcomes the change in pace as the hotel’s new general manager. However, she shuts the door on the notion that her hotel is haunted.

But when a series of mishaps introduces the fiery redhead to the hotel’s legendary cowboy ghost, she begins to question the events surrounding his demise.

Reese and Cheyenne police detective Cody Pring join forces to put to rest the spirit that haunts the hotel. In the process, they discover long-buried secrets. Can the two solve a decades-old mystery or are some things better left with the dead?

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~Book Review~

4.25 Stars

Reese Pemberton, 29, is the new general manager of the Historic Wyoming Point Resort in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In addition to introductions to her staff and guests, she also stumbles into a hot cop and a historic mystery.  Meanwhile, Detective Cody Pring, 29, just wants a quiet Halloween weekend since he and his partner are on call. 🎃

Cody won me over right away. He hates the smell of essentials oils and is a bit of a germophobe when it comes to public bathrooms. That’s a man after my own heart. Plus the “ass gaskets” line was funny.  There’s some humorous narration in this tale told via Cody and Reese’s alternating first person POV. Cody was a swoonworthy good guy and definitely a catch.

“I wanted to be that guy. That guy who did the right thing and was man enough to let down his guard so a beautiful woman like this felt safe and secure to open herself to me.”

Aside from Reese’s moods being a little temperamental towards Cody in the beginning (of course they did get off on the wrong foot), I liked her as a strong, independent, and resourceful heroine.  I think they were developed well, though developed separately for much of the first half. As it was, it seemed like they made a quick relationship jump at one point. But their hook-ups were hot so no complaints there.

“She had a restful, dreamy look about her that craved naked escapism, and I wasn’t about to disappoint.”

Cody and Reese made a good pair; I just wish they would have done a little sleuthing together. None the less, the mystery angle kept me turning pages even as I put the pieces together. The historic elements blended well into the setting and the mystery which gradually unravels over the course of the tale. 

I appreciated the incorporation of multicultural characters. You just don’t get that often enough in the current romance market. I also appreciated how the historical background was integrated to give more depth to the ghost story and how motivations and attitudes were explained to understand the characters involved but not excused in present time.

“‘…lower your Confederate flag and remove your swastika. Ignorant racists like you lost both wars, and no one likes to listen to losers.’”

That line was just awesome!

I’ll admit I’m still mulling over the “ghost story,” still sorting through my feelings towards those characters. It certainly gives you something to think about. I look forward to other reader’s impressions. 

There’s a little paranormal element to this contemporary romantic suspense. 👻 I’m generally not a PNR reader, but I am a sucker for holiday romances and Halloween just happens to be my favorite holiday. All in all, I enjoyed this haunted hotel romance a lot, and while it’s certainly perfect for the season, it can be enjoyed any time of the year….maybe even with a tube of chips and a bag of pb candy! ;-) 

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Mary Billiter is a weekly newspaper columnist and fiction author. She also has novels published under the pen name, “Pumpkin Spice.”

Mary resides in the Cowboy State with her unabashedly bald husband, her four amazing children, two fantastic step-kids, and their runaway dog. She does her best writing (in her head) on her daily runs in wild, romantic, beautiful Wyoming.

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RELEASE BLITZ: Missing From Me by Jayne Frost

Series: Sixth Street Bands #3

~Blurb~

SEAN

Four years ago I made an unforgivable mistake. And Anna was the price. I thought I’d forget her. Thought I’d move on. But who was I kidding? No amount of drumming could drown out my love for her.

When I see here again, backstage after one of our shows, it's clear: Anna's mine. She’ll always be mine. 

One mistake. Four years of regret. Is there such thing as a second chance?

ANNA

When Sean Hudson walked out of my life, he shattered me. Broke me in untold ways. And when I saw him again, I did the only thing I could: I ran. 

Sean is the past. And I can't survive his brand of hurt ever again.

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~Book Review~

DNF

I’ve adored the two previous titles in this series. Sadly, this one was a letdown. While the other books ascended above and beyond the rock star romance subgenre, offering original, engaging, heartfelt, but still sweet and sexy tales with swoonworthy heroes, this one really didn’t feel like it fit into the tone of the series.  Right off the bat, it’s angsty, at places depressing, and utilizes rock star themes done so many times over, unromantic tropes, and double standards.

Specifically, I was really disappointed in the OW drama & sex scene references, the first encounter basically being cheating. This turned me off from the start and made it so hard to connect with Sean, unlike Cameron and Christian who came before him in the series and were A-mazing guys. OMG, even the snippets of them in this one showed that they were still such sweeties, asking their fan girls to not touch them and only having eyes for their heroines.  That alone was enough to make me want to put down this book and pick up theirs again. Cameron and Christian were true book boyfriends; Sean was a douche. 

In the beginning, I found Sean an egotistical, self-centered, misogynist jerk.  The fact alone that he asserted that Anna had rejected him when she wasn’t the one to end the relationship and only chose to stay behind because she was invested in law school made me want to kick him in the balls. And when he rolled off with inner thoughts like “I’d never moved on” after he clearly slept with many other woman I wanted to roll my eyes. Saying he thought of her when he was with these other women just made it skeevier. I really felt that Anna deserved better. No girl should have to sacrifice her career goals and get stuck with a guy whose other women are repeatedly going to be in her face. 

Which brings me to the problems I had with the romance. Half way through the story and I still didn’t have a sense of a romantic connection between these two. There was a lot of angst and depressing family situations. There was sorting out heartbreaking mistakes and having sex again, but that’s not romance. I think if the opening chapters would have focused on Sean and Anna in their happier times so readers could see why they were it for each other instead of Sean’s sexual indiscretions, and if Sean wouldn’t have become a manwhore, the romantic angle would have been better developed.

I officially threw in the towel at 54% when more signs of OW drama/misunderstanding were on the horizon. I read romance to escape and feel good, and there were just too many places where the story was either a downer or clichéd devices were being employed. 

Gone for You and Fall with Me I can’t recommend enough, especially to my safety gang friends. If you are looking for a sweet, sexy, and safe rocker romance, those two stories are the ones. Missing From Me, however, is sadly missing the elements that made the first two so great. It’s definitely geared towards readers of angsty rocker plots and fans of the second chances with a secret baby trope. I really hope Logan’s book returns to the style of the first two. Sean, I’d just as soon forget about.

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~Excerpt~

Chapter One

4 YEARS AGO

Sean

The front door slammed, shaking the walls in our small apartment. I snuggled closer to Anna’s side and buried my face in her hair.
Logan’s agitated voice cut through the fog of near sleep.
“Dude, wake up!”
Whatever mess my best friend had gotten himself into, he’d have to solve it on his own. This was one of Anna’s rare mornings off, and since we’d had the apartment to ourselves, we’d stayed up late, listening to the rain and having lazy sex until we’d passed out.
Smiling at the thought of a repeat, I grumbled in Logan’s general direction, “Go away. I don’t have any condoms. Carry your ass to the store like a normal person and leave us alone.”
His footsteps echoed in the tiny room, and then he was beside me, his long fingers digging into my shoulder as he gave me a hard shake. “I’m serious. Get up.” 
Not happening.
A frustrated groan escaped my lips when Anna twisted in my arms. She propped herself up on one elbow, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “What do you need, Lo?”
A swift kick in the ass.
Rolling onto my back, I smothered my face with the pillow, hoping he’d get the hint. Of course, he didn’t. 
Cursing under his breath, Logan rooted around under the comforter. 
“Hey!” I snarled, tossing the pillow at him. “Whatever you’re looking for, I don’t have it.” 
Running an agitated hand through his blond hair, Logan glared at me. 
“Where’s your remote?” Anxiety laced his tone when I didn’t answer right away. “For the TV, douchebag—where’s the remote?” 
Anna fumbled around on the nightstand and then handed him the clunky device. “What’s wrong with the TV in your room?”
Logan walked to the end of the bed and took a seat.
Anna sat up, scowling. “Make it quick.” She slumped against the headboard, glaring at the back of Logan’s head. “Seriously, Lo, hurry up. I have to pee.” 
Logan ignored her, all his attention focused on the screen as he flipped through the channels. His shoulders sagged when he reached CNN. 
Cable News? Now he had my attention. The only things Logan ever watched were MTV, VH1, or the Cartoon Network. 
I popped up to see what was so important, but something told me I didn’t want to know. “What’s going on?”
“Quiet,” Logan whispered.
Buttoning my lip, I reluctantly focused on the screen where a stone-faced commentator stood in a field, fat droplets of rain pelting her microphone. 
“…live footage from the scene of the tragic accident outside of Fredericksburg, Texas this morning where two members of the super-group Damaged lost their lives in a fiery crash. At this point, we’re unable to confirm the identities of the deceased. Damaged, arguably the hottest band in the country, just completed a series of shows in the Southwest and...”
The camera panned out for a wide-angle shot. Wisps of smoke rose from the wreckage, dissolving into the gray morning sky. 
A gasp from Anna. “Oh my God.” 
She crumbled against me, her small hand curving around my waist as she buried her face in my chest. Unable to make sense of what I was seeing, I stroked her hair with numb fingers. 
After a few moments of stunned silence, Logan jumped to his feet. “What the fuck is she smiling about?”
Confused, I blinked at him. “Who?” 
“The fucking reporter.” He pointed at the TV with a shaky hand. “What the hell is she grinning for?”
I shifted my gaze back to the screen, and sure as shit, the reporter was smiling. Just a slight upturn of her glossy lips. 
I tightened my grip on my girl. “It’s her job, man. She doesn’t...” Emotion clogged my throat, and I struggled for breath. For words. “She doesn’t know them.”
But then, neither did we. Not really. Damaged hailed from Austin, our hometown. And over the last five years, as their star ascended, our paths had crossed on occasion.
Our band, Caged, was one of the many groups on Sixth Street that loosely followed the Damaged blueprint. Since high school, we’d been playing the same bars where Damaged got their start, hoping a little of their magic would rub off.
The news report abruptly cut to KVUE, the local ABC affiliate. Terri Gruca, the nighttime anchor, sat stoically behind the half-lit desk, her co-anchor nowhere in sight. 
“Thank you, Sandy.” Terri blinked into the camera. “We’ve just got word at the studio that Rhenn Grayson, lead singer for the Grammy winning band Damaged, and Paige Dawson, lead guitarist, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident on Highway 290 this morning.” She looked down at the copy wobbling in her shaking hand. “Rhenn’s wife, singer Tori Grayson, and drummer, Miles Cooper, were airlifted to Brackenridge Hospital via Care Flight. According to band manager, Taryn Ayers, Mrs. Grayson and Mr. Cooper are both in critical condition. The bus driver was also pronounced dead at the crash site.” Still photos of Rhenn and Paige appeared on a split screen in the background behind Terri’s head. “Our prayers go out to the families. After a brief commercial break, we’ll cut to the CNN studio for further updates on this tragedy and a look back at the lives of these two gifted musicians.”
My head pounded as a commercial for toaster strudel flickered across the screen. Smiling faces and cheery voices, touting the virtue of strawberry jam tucked inside a fluffy pastry shell. Somewhere, people were probably eating that shit. 
But not Rhenn or Paige. 
“They were twenty-four years old,” Logan murmured.
As he turned to face me, questions clouded his arctic blue eyes. The same questions I’d seen every day since the first time we met. About death, and why it visited some while leaving others alone. Death was what brought Logan and me together, after all. Our shared bond. Two kids whose mothers would never sit at the long table in Mrs. Varner’s classroom handing out cookies. Because our mothers had “passed.” 
That’s the polite term people used when someone died. The same folks made sure to tell you they were “sorry for your loss.” 
Which I always found funny, since my mother wasn’t lost. She was dead. 
Rhenn’s voice boomed from the speaker on the worn-out TV. Smiling his most iconic smile, he stood back to back with Paige as he crooned the band’s latest hit.
I leaned forward to drink it all in. Because that’s all that was left now, bits of light and shadow caught on tape.
Slithering from my loose hold, Anna stumbled to her feet. “I’ve got to pee.” 
Before she got away, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and then slipped my arms around her waist to pull her between my knees.
Resting my forehead against her chest, I breathed deeply, her peach scent soothing me like a balm. “I love you, Anna-baby.” 
She sifted her fingers through my hair until I stopped shaking, and then kissed the top of my head. “Love you too.” 
Reluctantly, I let her go, and she retreated into the tiny bathroom. Through the paper-thin walls, I heard her crying softly. 
When she returned, her face splotchy and her eyes glistening with leftover tears, I gave her a soft smile and lifted the covers so she could crawl in beside me. 
An hour later and we still hadn’t moved, like if we stayed here, it wouldn’t be real.
But it was.

Jayne Frost, author of the Sixth Street Bands Romance Series, grew up in California with a dream of moving to Seattle to become a rock star. When the grunge thing didn’t work out (she never even made it to the Washington border) Jayne set her sights on Austin, Texas. After quickly becoming immersed in the Sixth Street Music scene…and discovering she couldn’t actually sing, Jayne decided to do the next best thing—write kick ass romances about hot rockstars and the women that steal their hearts.

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REVIEW/RELEASE BLITZ: Character Flaws by Sierra Hill

Genre: Romantic Comedy

~Blurb~

Joey:
They say you never get a second chance at a first impression. That is, unless you’re my gorgeous temporary neighbor.

My first impression of Theo Crawford was anything but wonderful. He was discourteous, anti-social, and a drunken mess.

My second impression wasn’t much better when he inconsiderately woke me on a Sunday morning.

But by my third impression, my views toward Theo began to soften. Maybe he isn’t as bad as he seems.

And now? Well, let’s just say my defective heart doesn’t care that he’s gay, because I’ve fallen for him.

Theo:
Wait, what?

I’m not gay.

Where’d she get that impression?

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~Book Review~

3 Stars

Joey Hughes can’t figure out the deal with the guy next door, Theo Crawford, 26. He’s living with one of her gay friends, and she’s under the impression that they are in a relationship, yet he’s also showing signs of interest towards her. And she’s got a major crush brewing on him.

While the blurb hints that the story might be a love-hate neighbors romance, it’s really a friends to lover tale, and that’s fine too. This started out as a possible 4 star read but then it began going downhill. Theo was a sweet book boyfriend in the beginning. He’s an average guy and had a realness about him. He wasn’t a manwhore and he preferred committed relationships to meaningless hook-ups. He seemed to have a lot of integrity. Until he didn’t. While there was some good relationship build-up in the first half as the pair got to know each other, the romance got waylaid later on by two major issues. 

One, the OW drama. With a chapter title like “Dealing with exes and sex-crazed co-directors” it should give readers a clue what I mean. The clichéd, scheming other women troupe cheapened the tale and made Theo appear to be lacking a backbone. 

Two, the incomplete sex scenes. I don’t know what the heck was up with that. A decent editor in the contemporary romance genre should have pointed that out. Their first sex scene, ya know the thing most romances build up to, is literally skipped over. Then it’s attempted to be told via flashback the next morning in italic. Did I mention italic is really annoying to read for pages? But even the retelling gets cut short just like about all of their encounters. And this isn’t what I’d classify as a “clean romance” either so I couldn’t figure out if I was supposed to be reading an adult book or one geared towards teens. 

Speaking of immature, with Joey it really showed in the ways she handled her students, didn’t cope well with her job, and thought jeans were a proper dress code for a professional in an authority role.  I had to agree with her on one thing though; teaching wasn’t the career for her.

Told via Joey and Theo’s alternating first person POV, this is a light-hearted tale that’s silly rather than funny, and by the end I was pretty blah on it.

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Since self-publishing her first erotic contemporary romance in 2014, Sierra Hill found her creative passion, writing about the fictional characters that live in her brain, who constantly shout for their own love stories to be told. Sierra is a sucker for cheap accessories, enjoys traveling to see live concerts, and loves good seafood. Sierra resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of twenty years and her long-haired, German Shepherd. She is currently working on her next HEA.

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REVIEW/RELEASE BLITZ: Sol by Leslie McAdam

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: October 15, 2017

~Blurb~

The army taught me discipline. Order. Control.

None of that matters the day I walk into her classroom.

Or her bedroom.
 
 What's more important than my grade?
 
 Not failing her.

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~Book Review~

3.5 Stars

Danika Anderson, 26, is a free spirit and pacifist, indulging in her nomad lifestyle of traveling and teaching. Trent Milner, 22, her brother’s best friend, is fresh out of the army and on a new but sobering mission to track down the girl he’s always crushed on. Once he finds the class she’s teaching, he’s about to become her student if that’s what it takes to reach her.

This is a hard one to rate for me (which is why I’m rounding it up). It’s also one of those times where I stress that it’s the words in a review that are more important than a number rating. As a love story, this is poignant. I believed that Dani and Trent were right for each other; they just had to find their way and work through both their separate and shared experiences.  

Told via their alternating dual first person POV, when they finally got together, it was hot and beautiful all in one. The love scenes were just that—rooted in love yet sensual at the same time. They weren’t cheesy clichéd sex scene dialogue; they were well written and what more romance writers should strive for.

“And my soldier let go of his restraints. Frenzied, he pounded into me, so impossibly hard, so impossibly strong, and still tender at the same time.”

Dani is a strong, independent heroine, although she did frustrate me at times. Trent is aww… a total sweetie, a devoted romantic hero, and most definitely a book boyfriend. Protective but not possessive or demeaning. Loving, understanding, and full of integrity.

Despite the premise, this isn’t a smutty teacher-student taboo tale. It’s much deeper than that. I’ve also read the author’s The Stars in the Sky, which is largely different from this one as in it’s light-hearted and fun. The two stories do share a common theme of bridging two characters who seem to be fundamentally different. That’s an inspiring message that’s probably needed more today than ever. I also strongly appreciated how a positive and constructive approach to serious issues was handled.

The overall tone of the story is what deterred from my overall enjoyment. This one is very melancholy as it deals with heart-breaking subject matter and fully depicts the grief process. As someone who’s experienced similar distressing feats many years ago, yet in different circumstances, there were aspects that were just hard to read because I related to them. I don’t like books that make me cry, and this was one that took me back to experiences that aren’t ones I like to relive. Readers less sensitive to grief will probably appreciate the depth to the story and the feeling the characters share though.  While acknowledging that it was a tough read for me, I must also praise the focus on the character’s inner struggles. Yes, it felt emotional and angsty and that’s not my style, but the angst was fitting for the topic.  And I also must praise that there was no unnecessary drama (like of the OW/OM kind) that creeps up far too often in romantic fiction. This was a journey the hero and the heroine had to undertake; it was a sad yet thoughtful and beautiful one.

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Leslie McAdam is a California girl who loves romance, Little Dude, and well-defined abs. She lives in a drafty old farmhouse on a small orange tree farm in Southern California with her husband and two small children. Leslie always encourages her kids to be themselves – even if it means letting her daughter wear leopard print from head to toe. An avid reader from a young age, she will always trade watching TV for reading a book, unless it’s Top Gear. Or football. Leslie is employed by day but spends her nights writing about the men you fantasize about. She’s unapologetically sarcastic and notoriously terrible at comma placement (that’s what editors are for!). Always up for a laugh, Leslie tries to see humor in all things. When she’s not in the writing cave you’ll find her fangirling over Beck, camping with her family, or mixing up oil paints to depict her love of outdoors on canvas.

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