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#Book Blitz #His Billion-Dollar Takeover Temptation#Contemporary Romance @Xpresso Book Tours

28/5/2021

 

His Billion-Dollar Takeover Temptation
Emmy Grayson
(The Infamous Cabrera Brothers, #1)
Published by: Harlequin Presents
Publication date: May 25th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

In debut author Emmy Grayson’s sexy workplace romance, will the Spanish CEO be able to resist giving in to desire?

He will claim her company
But can he claim her, too?

Everleigh Bradford won’t simply hand over control of the family vineyard she expected to inherit. She’s lost too much already. If she must confront internationally renowned new owner Adrian Cabrera, she will! Even if she has to fight her red-hot response to the brooding Spaniard.

Bringing Everleigh home to Grenada to prove he’ll protect her heritage is essential to their working relationship—but it’s dangerous. Innocent Everleigh is intoxicating. And she deserves everything that Adrian’s past and his iron self-control won’t let him give her. No matter how tempting it is…

From Harlequin Presents: Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

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EXCERPT:

She had just congratulated Cora and Cole Owens on their daughter’s recent marriage when she passed by the dessert buffet. The table, draped in burgundy silk and lit with gold votives, offered up treats like gourmet chocolates infused with caramel and raspberry, chocolate soufflé bites and an elevated crystal tray stacked high with cookies dusted with powdered sugar. Polvorones, according to a black sign with gold cursive. Beneath it, in small print, she read:

“My abuela would bake up a batch of polvorones in her tiny kitchen every weekend. We include a dish of ‘dust cookies’ at every Cabrera Wine event to honor her memory.”

The signature at the bottom, written in a bold script, read “Adrian Cabrera.”

Surprise filtered through the adrenaline that still pulsed through her. She hadn’t thought of the man as sentimental. Curious, she picked up a cookie and bit into it.

Oh, heavens.

Bursts of cinnamon and chocolate filled her mouth as the delicate treat melted on her tongue. Her senses quivered at the rich taste. Not that she had any experience with sex, but if she did, she’d bet these cookies would give lovemaking a run for its money.

“Delicious, aren’t they?”

Her eyes flew open. Adrian Cabrera stood in front of her, shoulders thrown back and hands casually resting in his pockets.

Everleigh swallowed quickly, her mouth drying out under the intense scrutiny of his hooded gaze.

“Um, yes.” She smiled slightly. “Possibly the best cookie I’ve ever tasted.” She gestured towards the sign. “And I think this is great. To honor your grandmother like this.”

Something dark flickered in his eyes but disappeared too quickly for her to discern what it was.

“You were looking for me.”

Mind your manners, Everleigh. Dad’s voice echoed in her mind. She mentally forced herself to relax and not point out that it was polite to thank someone when they gave you a compliment.

“Was I?”

“Yes.”

Arrogant jerk. She bit down on her tongue. Her first inclination was to cut this sexy but maddening man down to size, but she wouldn’t let her temper get the better of her again. This second chance to speak to him was a blessing, and not one to be taken lightly.

“I wanted to apologize for my harsh words,” she forced out.

He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. “Really?”

She clenched her hands together and looked down. “I’m not normally so rude. Dad’s health has…” A lump rose in her throat and she swallowed hard. Now was not the time for tears, and Adrian Cabrera did not seem like the type of man who would tolerate weakness. “I reacted hastily and made some horrible accusations.”

Silence stretched between them. She looked back up and maintained eye contact. She would force out an apology, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of letting him intimidate her.

For what seemed like forever but was probably only ten seconds or so, they stared at each other. The energy between them changed, nearly causing her to totter back on her heels at the strength of the attraction that crackled between them like lightning. Carnal thoughts rose in her mind, accompanied by vivid images of his bronze skin pressed against her body as they rolled across a bed, tangled in the sheets.

Her cheeks grew hot. One hand flew up to her face before she could stop it, as if she could hide her response.

Judging by the slow smile spreading across his face, he knew exactly what was going through her mind.

The band finished their song to a round of hearty applause. A beat later, they struck up another tune. The sultry notes of a slow song floated on the air as the ballroom lights dimmed.

“Dance with me.”

Author Bio:

Emmy's interest in romance can be traced back to her love of Nancy Drew books, when she tried to solve the mysteries of her favorite detective while rereading the romantic chapters with Ned Nickerson. Fast-forward a few years when she discovered a worn copy of "A Rose in Winter" by Kathleen Woodiwiss on her mother's bookshelf, and she was hooked. Over 20 years later, Harlequin Presents made her dream come true by offering her a contract for her first book.

When Emmy isn't writing or reading, she's chasing around her baby boy, feeding her menagerie of fur babies or carving out a little time on her front porch with her firefighter hubby.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram


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#Book Blitz #Alpha by Sybil Bartel @Xpresso Book Tours

28/5/2021

 

Alpha
Sybil Bartel
(The Alpha Elite, #1)
Publication date: May 24th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense

Billionaire.

Mercenary.

Navy SEAL.

The Teams trained me to be a killer. War taught me to be ruthless. Then an ill-fated mission proved I was human. Combat wounded, The Navy cut me loose. I had a choice. Fade into obscurity or use the skills I had.

Alpha Elite Security was born and three years later, my company was the most sought after security contractor in the world. Five global locations, ten company jets, every one of my employees military trained—we were the best of the best. Overseeing operations, I didn’t have time for women, or anything other than growing my company. My success rate unmatched, I’d never lost a client.

Then I got a call, the only call that would get me back in the field. She was missing. The woman I’d left behind seven years ago. Now I had one objective.

Code name: Alpha.
Mission: Extraction.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

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EXCERPT:

Ignoring the glances from women shopping by themselves, I cut across the front of the market and rounded the corner on the last aisle.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks.

Jesus.

Blonde, ethereal, delicate, and more beautiful than I remembered, the only woman I’d ever loved stood mere feet away from me in a pale green dress.

Staring, my heart pounding, the air in my lungs nonexistent, all I could think was how unforgivably selfish I’d been on the worst day of her life.

I deserved her hate, but I told myself that was seven years ago. Time was on my side, and it’d been long enough. She had to forgive me.

Move, Trefor.

Make the move.

As if sensing my presence, she suddenly looked over her shoulder, her gaze landing exactly where I stood.

But she didn’t look up at me.

Not all the way.

Her head slightly dipped, her gaze cast down as if staring at my legs, her emerald green eyes didn’t meet mine.

Fuck this.

I stepped forward.

Author Bio:

Sybil Bartel is a USA Today Bestselling author of unapologetic alpha heroes. Whether you're reading her deliciously dominant mercenaries, bodyguards or military heroes, all of her heart-stopping, page-turning romantic suspense novels have sexy-as-sin alpha heroes!

Sybil resides in South Florida and she is forever Oliver’s mom.

To find out more about Sybil Bartel or her books, please visit her at:

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#Blog Tour #Book review of Whatever It Takes (DCI Jane Birchfield) #Police Procedural @rararesources

28/5/2021

 
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Thank you to Rachel from Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Whatever It Takes, the second instalment in Heaton Wilson's series of police procedurals featuring DCI Jane Birchfield.
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Whatever It Takes

DCI Jane Birchfield is facing a series of personal challenges: a rocky relationship with her partner, her mum hardly talks to her; and her boss and mentor is critically ill, which means she is having to cover his post as well as her own. Then she has to take charge of the toughest of murder investigations.
Jamie Castleton is found dead, seemingly frozen in position at a computer in a grubby internet cafe in the Manchester suburb of Ashbridge. Enquiries reveal he was a self employed tech consultant and a computer expert, so what was he doing in there?

The more Jane and her team dig under the surface, the more the evidence points to one of Manchester's biggest companies, Greaves, and its super-wealthy boss, Graeme Hargreaves. This leads Jane into a sordid underworld, and a surprise twist in the investigation forces her to face up to an event in her own past, that she has kept buried for 25 years.

Slowly, but surely, the net tightens around the suspects, but can she stay objective, and can she keep herself, her team, and her relationship, together, and bring the killer to justice? For Jane it has become a personal crusade, but in this race against time there is far more at stake than she ever imagined.

Purchase Link - https://linktr.ee/heaton
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My thoughts:
Whatever it Takes is the second instalment in DCI Jane Birchfield series and I'm really gladto have discovered yet another great series of police procedurals to follow. The book can be read as a standalone as the author provides enough background to fill the new reader in.

We get thrown into action from the word Go.  A young man is murdered by an injection of a lethal substance that causes immediate paralysis. When the police are called to the scene of crime, an unremarkable Internet cafe in Manchester, they are not even sure if they are dealing with a murder case. But Jamie Castleton was young, healthy, and had alhis life ahead of him. His mother tells the police that Jamie's behaviour recently changed and she suspected he got himself into trouble. DCI Jane Birchfield promises to leave no stone unturned and find the murderer 'whatever it takes'. The internet cafe, where Jamie lost his life, belongs to a big and successful company that has recently been hit by hacking rumours. This has already affected the share price and caused significant damage. What had Jamie been working on when he was killed and could it have cost him his life?

Overseeing this particular investigation isn't easy for Jane. She had to step in to cover her  mentor's job, while Charles Aston is slowly fading away in a hospice, and this is obviously putting Jane under a lot of  emotional strain. At the same time her relationship with Allan has hit a rough patch and she has to take a long and hard look at where her life is going. Jane is an extremely complex character who has a lot of things on her plate and is dealing not only with a vast range of her own emotions, but also takes care of people in her team.

The plot was tight and slowly, but solidly built, with a few surprising developments. The book was well-paced and really engaging- one of those police procedurals where you can't predict where the case is going to take you, but have to work it out together with the team.

Whatever It Takes does indeed have it all- excellent writing, interesting characters, an intriguing case which turns out to be really dark. Can't wait to read the next book in the series!

Thank you to Rachel from Rachel's Random Resources, thepublsher and the author for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

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Author Bio 

I have been a newspaper journalist, a postman, a public relations officer, a consultant, an actor, a director, a playwright. And I have always kept writing.
I always felt I could write a novel. And I did! The first book in my crime fiction series featuring DCI Jane Birchfield, Every Reason, came out in 2016.  Whatever It Takes was published in 2021; and the third book (which follows on where Whatever It Takes ends) is nearing completion.
I'm from Manchester but now live on the Isle of Wight, where the sea is never far away. It's the perfect place to be creative, and to walk the dogs.

Social Media Links –  @kkevvin
http://facebook.com/heatonwilson

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Thank you for reading thepost! If you like police procedurals as much as I do, be sure to check this one out. If you haven't read the first book in the series, you can find more about it here:
Goodreads (Every Reason: DCI Jane Birchfield)

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!
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#Book Blitz #Crystal'sHouse of Queers by Brooke Skipstone @Xpresso Book Tours

28/5/2021

 

Crystal’s House of Queers
Brooke Skipstone
Publication date: May 24th 2021
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, LGBTQ+

Three senior girls in rural Alaska escape their abusive pasts

by raising their dyke flag for themselves and their community.

Crystal Rose woke up at three in the morning today, drenched in sweat and breathless after another sex dream with Haley Carson. Later at school in the tiny town of Clear, Alaska, Crystal saves Haley from an assault by her abusive boyfriend.

The two girls renew a love started years ago that had to stay hidden until now. But with Crystal’s grandparents in the hospital with Covid and the possibility of her drug addict parents returning from a 14-year absence, Crystal needs Haley as much as she needs Crystal.

They connect with Payton Reed, a gun-toting artist who helps them feel proud to be gay and willing to stand up to anyone. Together they struggle to make Crystal’s house safe for those who are hated for their love.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Crystal and JD are very happy to be back in school. They’d been online from mid-March through May and then from late August until Monday, two days ago. During that time, Crystal had seen virtually none of her classmates. She’d never been very social, but she had missed seeing her art teacher and especially Haley. They’d been close friends in the elementary grades but had drifted apart in high school.

Crystal unties her hair and shakes her head. “One reason we went back this week is that special needs students don’t learn as much in remote learning.”

“Who said that?” asks Summer.

“SPED teacher.” Crystal bends over the table to grab her computer and feels her grandmother’s eyes searching her, just like she felt the moose eyes earlier.

“Crystal, why aren’t you wearing a bra?”

She lifts her eyes to Summer, who signals to hold her shirt against her chest. “Why are you looking?” She stays bent as she shoves books and her computer into her bag. “No one cared about me wearing a bra before. What difference does it make now?”

“Crystal, we’ve talked about this. You developed over the summer. You can’t be flashing everyone.”

“Am I flashing, or are you making a special effort to look down my shirt?” She feels blood rushing to her face. Her eyes throb.

“Please stand up straight.”

Crystal finishes stuffing her pack without hurrying, drags the zipper closed then swings her pack onto her shoulder as she stands. “Better?”

“Please put on your bra.”

Mac coughs. “Just don’t bend over in front of the boys, Crystal, and keep your jacket zipped.”

Crystal cocks a brow. “Because it’d be my fault if they stared at my boobs?”

JD laughs. “Gena calls them boobs too. A lot of my friends call them tits.”

“JD!” Everyone flinches when Summer slaps the table. Crystal can remember only one or two other times when she screamed at JD. He now stands with his mouth open, breathing noisily. His eyes bulge. “There’s no need to be crude. Why are you and Gena talking about her . . . breasts?”

Because they’ve been having sex for the past six months, thinks Crystal so loud she wonders whether anyone hears her. “C’mon, JD. We need to go.” Crystal pushes a chair farther under the table and heads for the door.

Summer grabs her arm. “Why are you being so defiant about this?”

“I’ve gone my whole life without my chest being strangled and bound. No one cared. Now if I don’t crush my boobs all day and much of the night, there’s something wrong with me. Guys go shirtless at PE all the time. Why can’t the girls?”

“That’d be embarrassing,” laughs JD as he moves through the door. “Hope you feel better, Mac.”

Summer releases Crystal’s arm and wrings her hands. “Now you want to go topless? Where are you getting these ideas?”

“Why do I have to get them from somewhere besides my own head? Cause I’m too dumb?” Her heart pounds in her chest and lips tighten against her teeth. She wants to say much more but is afraid to start another argument. She tries to slow her breathing. “Hope you feel better, Mac.” She exits the house and heads toward her Honda 4-wheeler where JD sits sideways behind the seat.

“I think it’s my turn to drive,” he says, just like every morning.

Crystal straddles the seat and starts the motor. “It’s not your turn until you’re older than me.”

“And what day will that happen?”

“Exactly.” She zips up her jacket, shifts gears, and races away from the house down her long driveway, bordered by spruce and aspen.

Last weekend, Kato told her she needed to wear a bra when she returned to school. He said he didn’t want guys staring at her all day. They’d been best friends their whole lives and had never even kissed. Then her boobs grew over the summer, and he couldn’t keep his hands off her. He complained she was teasing him, being coy, making him think dirty thoughts. All during July and August, she’d felt excited and confused, sometimes angry. Before this past weekend, they’d only kissed, and honestly, she’d never wanted to do anything more.

But she finally relented. The experience wasn’t very exciting, certainly nothing like her dreams of girls. Or kissing Haley in fifth grade.

At first, the dreams bothered her. Could something more be wrong with her brain beyond what school told her? She’s never fantasized about a boy. After Saturday’s session with Kato, she believes she understands why, but doesn’t know what to do or who to tell.

Maybe Haley?

What’s the worst that could happen?

She could laugh. Walk away. Tell others.

What’s the best she could say?

Me too.

How amazing would that be?

When the best option offers so great a reward, Crystal always ignores the danger. Witness—her encounter with the moose this morning.

Maybe she’ll talk to Haley today.

Author Bio:

Brooke Skipstone is a multi-award winning author who lives in Alaska where she watches the mountains change colors with the seasons from her balcony. Where she feels the constant rush toward winter as the sunlight wanes for six months of the year, seven minutes each day, bringing crushing cold that lingers even as the sun climbs again. Where the burst of life during summer is urgent under twenty-four-hour daylight, lush and decadent. Where fish swim hundreds of miles up rivers past bear claws and nets and wheels and lines of rubber-clad combat fishers, arriving humped and ragged, dying as they spawn. Where danger from the land and its animals exhilarates the senses, forcing her to appreciate the difference between life and death. Where the edge between is sometimes too alluring.

Some Laneys Died is her second novel. Her first was Someone To Kiss My Scars, also available in French (Embrasser Mes Blessures) and Spanish (Alguien Que Bese Mis Heridas).

Website / Goodreads / Instagram


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#Book Blitz #The Monster Keeps Me Safe by Kitty Thomas @Xpresso Book Tours

28/5/2021

 

The Monster Keeps Me Safe
Kitty Thomas
Publication date: May 19th 2021
Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance

At some point, right before my memory clicked off, the nightmare fairy must have paid the world a visit. Everything is just… gone, a tangle of blank confusion.

And now I live in a castle. Every little girl’s dream, right? Except it’s not. It’s twisted and abandoned and fake. I’m supposed to be safe here with my husband, but how can I be safe when I don’t remember him? How can I be safe when he feels so wrong?

Then a new monster comes to take me to a new life and a new cage far from the castle and the promise of safety.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play / Smashwords

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EXCERPT:

I went to the kitchen and heated the rest of my lo mein and chicken and vegetables and sat at the table. As I ate, I kind of faintly heard—but really more felt—the throbbing of music below me. The sound vibrated against my bare feet.

So Shannon had a basement. I suppose I should be grateful I hadn’t been locked in it. I couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me that one of those locked doors might lead to a basement level, which made it all the more suspicious that the door remained locked all the time.

I finished my food and put the cartons in the trash. I’d planned to go back to my room, but I went down the hallway on the main level instead. One of the mystery doors was cracked a fraction of an inch, the music drifting ever so slightly up and out to my ears.

The temptation was just too great. I had to know what the hell happened at a party this man would host. As soon as I took a peek down the stairs, I discovered I was wrong about yet another thing. Shannon’s elevator did go up to the sex floor.

The deviant sex floor.

The basement was a big finished space like an open floor plan apartment. It stretched fully from one end of the house to the other, creating a complete underground level.

There were maybe thirty or more people downstairs, every single one of them naked. There was no pretense of lingerie or underwear for either the men or the women. But the freaky part about the whole thing was that they all wore masks. Not masquerade masks that just covered your eyes, and not those creepy white masks that made you look like a mannequin, either.

No, these were the kind of masks you’d wear for Halloween. Maybe it was a costume party, though I was pretty sure it wasn’t Halloween. There were gorilla masks and monster masks and wolf masks and alien masks—even a few freaky cartoon character masks that were way age inappropriate given the circumstances down here. The only requirement seemed to be that the mask had to be full coverage, not one that only hid half the head or face.

The only thing not going on at the party was oral sex—for obvious mask-related reasons. The guests partner-swapped so fast it nearly gave me whiplash. I couldn’t even begin to guess which one was Shannon. Or was he hiding somewhere watching it all and not participating?

The rule of the night seemed to be that anyone could fuck anyone—no holds barred—because no one resisted. No one said no, no matter how many people they were passed around to. And the whole thing was utterly and completely anonymous.

Except for the masks, it was what I imagined an ancient Roman orgy might be like. I thought it must have been the case that if you decided to play at all, you were committed to whatever happened. The idea of complicated consent and negotiations seemed unlikely somehow. It was the same here. It didn’t seem a single person was willing to take no for an answer. If you came downstairs, well, you came downstairs.

The floor was a dark shiny hardwood. Expensive black leather sex furniture was interspersed throughout the large space as well as a few beds for those who preferred more comfort. There was spanking and whipping going on in the middle of the large space and a few women and one man being led around on leashes. There were three different couples fucking on one bed, and more lined against the walls like an assembly line of depravity.

I turned to go back upstairs, but a hand ensnared my wrist. “Where do you think you’re going, lovely? You aren’t following the dress code. I think we need to punish you for that.” The voice didn’t belong to Shannon.

I tried to pull away, still thinking I could reason my way out of this. “Let me go. I have to go back upstairs.”

“Shannon didn’t tell us he had a girlfriend. Do you just let your boyfriend fuck whoever he wants? That’s generous. Does he allow you the same freedoms? I can’t imagine him being so gracious with you.” His hand moved to the button on my jeans.

I tried to ease out of the situation again, but he wasn’t having it. Even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I somehow knew he planned to take Shannon’s girlfriend right here on the carpeted stairs. I looked back again at the orgy going on only a few yards away, still wondering which one was Shannon. Had he spotted me yet?

I wanted to scream for help, but I was both afraid someone might recognize me even with my new look and even more afraid to draw Shannon’s attention. Maybe I could stand to just let this guy do his thing and then slip back upstairs. It wasn’t as if Shannon hadn’t told me to stay in my room and keep my door locked. Even as I did it, I couldn’t believe I was trying to rationalize the situation—as if it would be my fault this guy couldn’t process the word no.

The stranger shoved me down on the black carpeted stairs and stripped me down so fast I couldn’t believe it had already happened. My clothes lay in a chaotic pile near my feet. I had barely enough time to try to wrap my head around anything that was going on and whether or not I thought I could handle it better than the alternatives.

His heavy weight settled on top of me, and I freaked out and screamed. I couldn’t just let it happen. Shannon was going to kill me for breaking his rules and coming down here, but I’d rather Shannon kill me than this guy fuck me. I had such messed-up priorities.

Nobody paid attention to my cries. Maybe they thought my scream was role play. Or maybe they didn’t care. Or maybe they were locked into their own fantasies at the moment and didn’t feel like dealing with someone else’s traumatic reality. After all, that wasn’t part of the fantasy orgy package. I was sure they’d all been given an intense list of rules and that they all knew coming down those stairs was consent… to anything with anyone. But the only rule I’d been issued was to stay away.

While I processed these thoughts and tried not to think about what was about to happen, the stranger was ripped off me. A second later, a guy in a gorilla mask had him by the throat against the wall. “Did she look like someone here for you to play with?” Shannon shouted.

“N-no.”

“She’s off-limits!” He turned back to the rest of the guests, most of whom were slowly coming out of the orgy fog to notice the commotion. “Everybody get the fuck out! Party’s over!”

I pressed my clothes against me and slowly backed up the stairs.

“Not you!” Shannon said, eyes blazing with fury from behind the mask.

I froze where I was. He’d never yelled. I’d never heard him yell before tonight. He was calm and methodical. I hadn’t been totally sure he had the emotional range to yell. But tonight there was a new and very different energy about him.

Author Bio:

KITTY THOMAS writes dark stories that play with power and have unconventional HEAs. She began publishing in early 2010 with her bestselling COMFORT FOOD and is considered one of the original authors of the dark romance subgenre.

To find out FIRST when a new book comes out, subscribe to Kitty's New Release List: KITTYTHOMAS.COM

Website / Goodreads / Book and Main Bites / Bookbub


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#Book Blitz #When Heroes Fail by Giana Darling @XpressoBook Tours

28/5/2021

 

When Heroes Fall
Giana Darling
(Anti-Heroes in Love, #1)
Publication date: May 28th 2021
Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance

I am the villain of my own story…

Jilted by my fiance.
A disappointment to my family.
Haunted by my childhood traumas.
I felt so much all my life that I resolved to feeling nothing at all.

Until I met my match.

As the most infamous mafioso of the 21st century, Dante Salvatore was madly passionate, unequivocally bad, and entirely too dangerous to know. He was everything I abhorred, yet I found myself representing him in the biggest criminal trial of the decade.

I was so focused on winning and achieving the success I deserved that I didn’t notice the gorgeous black-eyed man’s effect on me until it was too late. My icy heart had been held too close to his flame and now I wouldn’t let Dante go down without fighting with everything I had in me.

Even if the cost of a new life with him meant the loss of my old life and everything I thought I held dear.

Goodreads / Amazon

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Author Bio:

Giana Darling is an USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Top 40 Amazon Best Selling Canadian romance writer who specializes in the taboo and angsty side of love and romance. She currently lives in beautiful British Columbia where she spends time riding on the back of her man's bike, baking pies, and reading snuggled up with her Golden Retriever puppy, Romeo.

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#Natural Sorcery by Marina Ermakova #Jordan Sanders 2 #Urban Fantasy #Dystopian

26/5/2021

 
Rome was supposed to be safe--or at least safer than 90% of the planet. That was before the local legends started using their magic to destroy the food supply.

Considered one of Rome's experts on legends, mostly because she keeps surviving their assassination attempts, Jordan finds herself racing to find the culprits before they strike again. But legends wield powers that aren't documented, understood, or predictable. And Jordan isn't even a soldier. She's just some scientist unlucky enough to stumble over the local political mess.

The chances of getting murdered by magic beyond her comprehension is disconcertingly high. But if this unknown legend goes unchecked, Rome won't survive the next few years...and Jordan doesn't have it in her to walk away from that.

Book 2 in the Jordan Sanders series, beginning with Terrestrial Magic.
(Fromthe Book Blurb)


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My thoughts:
Natural Sorcery is the second book in Marina Ermakova's urban fantasy series featuring Jordan Sanders, a biologist and a leader of a team that studies magical animals (legimals). You can read Natural Sorcery as a standalone, as the author provides enough background into this fantasy world. However, there  are also  spoilers to the first book, so I would recommend to start from Terrestrial Magic and get a fuller experience of the series.

I did enjoy the second book much more forseveral reasons. Partly, it's the blessing of the secondbook where the world has already been established and here we are dealing with an original blend of fantasy and mythology.  It is clear from the aftermath of the previous book that Jordan got involved into complex political games which may well be a matter of survival for non-magical humans, but Jordan is a scientist and knows very little about politics. Even she understands straightaway that the mystery at the core of the secondbook is threatening to leave her community without food and it isn't going to be easy to find the guity party, if the legends (the magical community) are involved. There are twists and turns, including narrow escaped from death and lethal animal attacks. Natural Sorcery grabbed me straightaway and Ijsut had to read it in one sitting.

The first book left me a bit unsure about the protagonist. This time it felt asif she matured and left some of her insecurities behind. Jordan often thinks what her family members would say or do in a situation of danger and this helps her analyse the events form different angles and come up with a course of action. This time she seems to  go beyond choosing  between the options her family would consider but more often than not choose her own way and I really liked this.

Overall, I enjoyed this second instalment in Jordan Sanders series and was glad to be back in this original world with legends and mythological animals. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about Jordan and her team  in the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Books Go Social for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

#Book Blitz #Trapped with  The Undercover Prince by Julie Rowe @Xpresso Book Tours

25/5/2021

 

Trapped with the Undercover Prince
Julie Rowe
(Trapped with Him, #2)
Publication date: April 30th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Trauma Surgeon, Dr. Anna Brown is on a personal mission to decode her family’s past after her dying grandmother told her a story of rescue, resistance, and a royal family secret. A story her grandmother insisted was true.

Anna’s journey to the tiny European monarchy of Lerasia will be more dangerous than she could have ever predicted when she accidently uncovers a plot to kill a prince. Protecting him might lead to a crown on her head for the rest of her life.

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--

EXCERPT:

She could not be late for her train. Dr. Anna Brown checked her watch for the fifth time in five minutes, swore under her breath, and lengthened her stride. If she was late, she’d lose her hotel reservation and her appointment with the genealogy librarian at the main library in Cime, the capital of the tiny European monarchy of Lerasia.

Her grandmother had left her with a mystery to solve and a treasure hunt to accomplish, and Anna didn’t plan on letting her down.

Nestled in the Northern Alps between Switzerland and Germany, entering the country was easiest to do by train. She’d looked into flights, but she wanted to see Europe, not bounce through it.

The train station in Lyon, France, was bigger than she expected, but if she hurried, she could still make it to the correct platform. Luckily, she traveled light, with just one backpack, and wore hiking boots that were comfortable enough to run in should she need to. Weighing her options, she checked the time again, then broke out in a trot.

She approached a cluster of five men dressed in nearly identical dark suits. Fit, handsome, and with expensive haircuts, they were standing in a loose circle talking. Their stiff postures reflected some serious topic.

Had they broken out of a modeling agency office? She smiled then tried to hide it, but one of them was facing in her direction. His gaze hit hers…and stayed.

Heat swept across her face as his eyes—the color of steel blue—studied her. He gave her a half-smile.

A slow burn ignited her blood and sent champagne bubbles through her belly.

Holy cow, he was hot.

One of the other men turned to see what the hot dude was looking at and caught sight of her. He frowned.

She let her gaze slide away and caught the movement of the hot dude’s shoulders. His suit jacket tightened briefly to reveal a lump under his left arm.

Was that…a shoulder holster? She reconsidered the suits and the men wearing them. Maybe they were the French version of secret service agents?

When she glanced at the group again, no one was looking at her. Instead, they were looking at something on the tablet one of them held.

Just as well. she didn’t have time to flirt, no matter how cute the officer was.

Anna hurried a little faster toward the platform.

Five steps later, an invisible heavy force picked her up then smacked her to the highly polished granite floor of the train station. For a long moment, the world went silent and dark.

She blinked and found herself on her side, ears ringing, nose full of acrid smoke, and the large space oddly still of movement.

What happened?

Alarm bells clanged, and she shook off the shock, got one hand underneath herself, and levered up to see what was going on. Flames flickered where the train she’d been moving toward had been. Flames, twisted metal, and a smothering blanket of smoke.

An explosion? The ends of her fingers, toes, and nose went cold then numb. Her stomach tumbled around inside her belly, and she had to breathe through her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up. That train had to be full of people. She’d have been on it if the explosion had happened only five minutes later.

The number of injured would be high, and the dead…


Author Bio:

Julie Rowe's first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took her to the North West Territories and northern Alberta, where she still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance novels, but admits she'll never be able to write about all her medical experiences because, "No one would believe them!" A double Golden Heart finalist 2006, Julie's writing has appeared in several magazines such as Today's Parent, Reader's Digest (Canada), and Canadian Living. She currently facilitates communication workshops for her local city college. Julie enjoys hearing from her readers. You can reach her at www.julieroweauthor.com or on Twitter @julieroweauthor.

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#Book Blitz #The Devil You Know by J.L.Beck and C.Hallman @Xpresso Book Tours

25/5/2021

 

The Devil You Know
J.L. Beck & C. Hallman
(The Diavolo Crime Family, #2)
Publication date: May 21st 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance, Romance

Nic is so much more than The Devil.

The night of the auction changes everything.

I thought I knew who he was, and what was going to happen next.

I had no idea how wrong I was…

***This is a continuation of Devil You Hate and can not be read as a standalone. This book has a HEA***

Goodreads / Amazon

--


Author Bio:

J.L. Beck is a USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR, she has written over fifty different romance novels. She started her journey of writing back in 2014 and hasn't slowed down a second since then.

She's captivated by real romance, and loves reading about strong "ALPHA" males, as well as sassy heroines that know or may not know what they want. She is best known for delivering a happily ever after but has ended things on a cliffhanger a time or two.

When she's not typing away at her next book you can find her being a mom to her two adorable kiddos and wife to her high school sweetheart.

She's obsessed with Starbucks, social media, and is definitely more of a dog person than cat.

Author links:
Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Born and raised in Germany, Cassandra moved to the United States when she was eighteen. She always had a love for reading, that love slowly transpired into writing. She put fingers to the keyboard and started writing about the dark side of romance.

Cassandra is one half of the international bestselling author duo Beck & Hallman, who are most knows for the writing the Northwood University series.
The pair also write under the pen name Jenna Reed.

Author links:
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#Book Blitz #Royal Trouble by Jennifer Bonds @Xpresso Book Tours

24/5/2021

 

Royal Trouble
Jennifer Bonds
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Publication date: May 17th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

It’s time for everyone’s favorite bad boy, Prince Alexander Stanley, to clean up his act. Given the rare opportunity to lead a new royal program that aids veterans and their families, Xander can’t afford to be making scandalous headlines anymore. He has only two months until the program launches. No more overindulging. And definitely no more women.

Then halfway into it, his good behavior streak is threatened by a devil in a fuchsia dress.

Everly Wilson has kept a secret for years. She was the mastermind behind the celebrity dirt website Royals Gone Wild, which exposed some of her home country of Valeria’s juiciest secrets. But once she was out of school, she left the website and her past behind, moved to New York, and became a serious writer.

A seriously broke writer. If she doesn’t find a fresh story to earn her top dollar, she’ll be out on the street, with nothing but her laptop and a stack of unpaid medical bills to keep her warm at night.

But when a friend’s wedding brings her back home, it seems like the fates have aligned to deliver her the scoop of the year. Prince Alexander is suddenly on a mission to clean up his act, avoiding the escapades he once embraced—and she’s determined to be the one to catch his inevitable screwup. So when things between them start to heat up, and Xander’s walls start coming down, Everly might be the one royally in trouble this time…

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--

EXCERPT:

“Would you prefer I call security?”

“Grand idea,” he said, not bothering to hide his amusement. “I’m sure they’d be happy to escort you from the premises.”

“Escort me?” she asked, indignation coloring her words.

“Well, you are the one in the wrong loo.”

“No, that can’t be right…” She glanced around taking in the masculine colors of the restroom. Her eyes settled on the urinals even as a crimson flush spread over her chest and up her neck, disappearing into her hairline. “God, I hate weddings. First the dance, now this.”

She blew out a frustrated breath and began gathering the material of her dress—what little of it there was—doing her best to smooth it out over her hips.

Sticking around would be courting trouble Xander couldn’t afford, but his feet were cemented to the marble floor. She was obviously in some sort of bind and it was clear she was too prideful, or maybe too stubborn, to ask for help. He knew better than to offer it, though. She’d probably tell him to piss off.

“So if you didn’t come in here to try it on with me, what exactly are you doing?”

Everly glanced up at him, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. She studied him for a moment, and seemingly coming to a decision, gave a curt nod. “You have to promise you won’t laugh.”

Oh, this was going to be brilliant. “I promise not to laugh. Much.”

She shot him a dirty look, the corners of her lips pursed in disapproval. “You’re an arrogant ass. Have I mentioned that yet?”

“I believe it was part of the initial greeting.” He shrugged and leaned against the vanity, crossing his ankles. He’d been called worse and he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when she was looking at him as if she couldn’t decide between throwing him up against the counter to fuck him and throwing him up against the counter to fuck him.

“So, funny story.” Everly inched closer, keeping her back facing away from him. “Actually, it’s not so funny,” she said, a small wrinkle forming between her brows. “I ordered the wrong size dress and I could barely zip this fuchsia nightmare, and Lucy made the bridal party do this hip hop dance to a Flo Rida song—he’s totally her hall pass—and then my dress split down the back and now everyone can see my ass because I’m not wearing any underwear, and I can’t possibly go back out there. So, yeah.”

Xander straightened, his pulse quickening. “You’re not wearing knickers?”

“Out of everything I just said, that’s the part you registered?” She grabbed the back of her dress, cinching the fabric together to cover herself. “Men.”

Fuuuck.

She was right. He had to get his head on straight, but how could he think of anything but her plump, round arse when she’d just told him she wasn’t wearing any fucking panties? He shifted his weight, hoping she wouldn’t notice the quickly growing bulge in his trousers.

“Why don’t I lend you my jacket?” He had at least eight inches on her. It would probably do the trick, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a little fun with her first.

Everly sagged with relief. “That would be great, actually. Thank you.”

“Just one condition.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and took a step toward him, forgetting all about the gaping hole in the back of her dress. “Seriously?”

He laughed, his gaze darting to the mirror where the firm globes of her arse were now on full display, then quickly averted his eyes. But it was too late. His cock stirred with desire, not understanding that her arse was off limits.

Sweet Jesus.

This was a terrible idea.

“So?” Everly asked. “What’s the condition?”

Author Bio:

Jennifer Bonds writes sizzling contemporary romance with sassy heroines, sexy alphas, and a whole lot of mischief. She's a sucker for enemies-to-lovers stories, laugh-out-loud banter, and over-the-top grand gestures. Jennifer lives in Pennsylvania, where her overactive imagination and weakness for reality TV keep life interesting. She's lucky enough to live with her own real-life hero, two adorable (and sometimes crazy) children, and one rambunctious K9. Loves Buffy, Mexican food, a solid Netflix binge, the Winchester brothers, cupcakes, and all things zombie. Sings off-key.

To connect with Jen online, visit http://www.jenniferbonds.com or find her on Facebook and Instagram @jbondswrites.

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