The Temporary Wife

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Book Review, Jeannie Moon, The Temporary Wife

New review is now up.

*****

Megan Rossi is raising her best friend’s orphaned daughter, Molly, much to the dismay of the girl’s grandparents.  But the wealthy Campbells have the money and power to fight her for custody and as a kindergarten teacher Meg doesn’t have the means to face off against them in a lengthy legal battle.  She will do anything for Molly, though, even accept an unusual offer made by the girl’s uncle (and her ex-boyfriend) …. marriage.  Jason Campbell is well aware that his parents don’t have the little girl’s welfare in mind and making sure her daughter is cared for by Meg is the least he can do for his deceased sister.  A short-term, name-only marriage will take care of everything.  Except he didn’t count on the attraction to still be there between them all these years later.

The Temporary Wife is Jeannie Moon’s first novel and it is a definite winner.  She does a fantastic job of giving readers likable characters in both Meg and Jason – they have some issues that they have to work though but they are believable and the resolution is quite satisfying.  Jason has scars from growing up with his uncaring parents and Meg understandably has concerns about falling for Jason again.  It may have been years ago but the way their relationship ended is still definitely in play between the two of them.

The fact that Jason and Meg had a previous relationship is of course the driving force for the story, but it also plays into the idea of getting that second chance with your first love.  It’s a classic romance theme, but it’s a classic for a reason, and Moon does a great job of keeping it fresh and interesting.  My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that I occasionally got a little confused about the timeline.  There didn’t seem to be enough details on how and when time passed, but it wasn’t an enjoyment killer – it only popped up in a couple of places and was easily overlooked.

The Temporary Wife is a fantastic first go for a new romance author and one I highly recommend reading.  I’m intrigued by the idea of a sequel with Jason’s brother – actually there are a lot of opportunities to make more books out of the supporting characters.  They are varied and interesting and would make fascinating leading characters in their own books.

Here’s hoping that Moon has a long and successful writing career.

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Meant to Be

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Anchor Island series, Book Review, Meant to Be, Terri Osburn

New review is now up.

*****

In Meant to Be, Beth finds herself all alone on a ferry, going to meet her fiance’s family for the first time . . . only she’s scared to death of water.  Luckily, a nice (and oh-so-sexy) stranger helps her through her panic attack – giving her butterflies while doing it – then things go from bad to worse when she finds out that her rescuer is her fiance’s brother, Joe.  Abandoned for her two week vacation while Lucas works, Beth finds Joe more and more tempting, but nothing can happen between the two of them because of Lucas … right?

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this one.  There’s just something a little icky about being engaged to one brother then ending up with another, but Osburn does a fantastic job of giving readers an engaging story and warm characters.  Beth is a people-pleaser, always has been, but the two weeks she spends on the island with Joe, his parents and their neighbors start her thinking about what she wants for herself.  Joe has his issues with his brother that simmer just under the surface, never to be looked at directly.  Then time with Beth causes him to look at his feelings a little more closely.  Not biological brothers – their parents married when the boys were young – there’s always been a bit of a strain between the boys, although they love their parents deeply.  Thanks to Beth, Joe does a little growing during her visit, learning to look at things a little differently.

Both Beth and Joe fight their feelings – they don’t take the situation lightly – and they understand the repercussions of their decisions.  Meant to Be turned out to be a much more heart-warming and sweet story than I thought it would be at first.  I must say that Osburn surprised and delighted me with this one.  And readers are going to get a chance to experience Lucas’s story too and it looks like he gets his HEA in a most unexpected way, for him anyway.

Bedding the Wrong Brother

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Bedding the Wrong Brother, Book Review, Virna DePaul

Science professor Melina Parker is better with bugs than with men.  After she’s told by another boyfriend that she’s no good in bed, and with dreams of a family, she enlists the help of her childhood friend, Max Dalton, to help teach her how to please a man.  Since Max and his twin brother, Rhys, have never wanted for women, he’s the perfect choice.  Only she finds herself getting a lesson from Rhys instead – the man that Melina’s loved for years but who she believes is out of her league.  Rhys has had a thing for Melina for as long as he can remember but she’s always been much more comfortable with his twin.  Plus his life as a successful stage magician means that he’s always traveling and in no position to offer her the white picket fence that she longs for.  Now he has the chance to spend a few days showing Melina the pleasures of the bedroom, but will he be able to let her go when it’s over?

Bedding the Wrong Brother just about sizzles the pages.  Rhys and Melina have a lot of fire and passion between them and DePaul doesn’t hold that back.  But along with the steam, she also gives readers a delicious romance about two people who have had feelings for each other for years but a comedy of errors have kept them apart.  Neither of them want to take that chance of putting their heart on the line only to have it rebuffed.  You know that things are going to work out for them but it is still a little stressful to see them fumble their way to their happy ending.

This is actually part of a series and Max has a story of his own and he’s such a scoundrel that I’m looking forward to him getting his comeuppance.

Guest Post by Sara Daniel

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Love Him or Leave Him, Love Him or Leave Him Blog Tour, Sara Daniel

We have the pleasure today of a guest post by Love Him or Leave Him author Sara Daniel.  (If you haven’t already, read my review here and then check out details of the blog tour here).

Asked about her favorite romances that influenced her writing, Sara had this to say:

I have always been drawn to relationship stories, happily ever after, and romance. I was first sucked into the Sweet Valley High series in middle school and always rooted for the good girl to win. A book I still remember from my early teen years is Dial L For Love by Marian Woodruff. In this teen romance, the girl began dating a socially awkward but popular football player who had his best friend call her pretending to be him, and the girl and the best friend ended up falling for each other. Decades later, I still remember the heart-wrenching emotion I felt while reading that story.

My first adult romance books were Johanna Lindsey historicals that I read late at night when my mother thought I was sleeping. Soon after, I moved on to contemporary category romances by Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell, and Sandra Brown. I loved the emotional ride each author delivered in every book, and I lived vicariously through the heroines, experiencing love and heartbreak as they did. When I write, I hope to capture even a portion of the pure, raw emotion those stories inspired in me.

My all-time favorite hero is Kenny Karmody from Suzanne Brockmann’s Out of Control. That mix of sweet, vulnerable, tough, fearless, and irreverent made me fall head-over-heels in love in a way I never have before or since with any other book character. Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ First Lady is probably my all-time favorite book because every single character captivated me on every single page. When I finished that book for the first time, I turned to page one and immediately started reading it again.

Contemporary romances with memorable characters and pure, heartfelt emotion are the stories I love. They’ve stuck with me through the years, influenced the core of my writing, and are now the types of books I too write in the hopes they will touch others in the same way.

*****

Love Him or Leave Him 

Sometimes dreams are where you least expect them.

Connor O’Malley and Becca Sanders were once high school sweethearts, ripped apart by rumors in the small town of Kortville, Illinois. Connor left to join the military, and Becca stayed, waiting for her younger brother to graduate so she could live her dreams of traveling the world. But now that Connor’s back as the town sheriff, Becca finds herself struggling to resist the too-handsome man who once broke her heart.

Connor loves Kortville—its quaintness keeps at bay the painful memories of Afghanistan he’s sure make him unworthy of any woman, particularly the beautiful brunette he’s always secretly dreamed of a future with. But when a scandal rocks the town, suddenly Connor and Becca must trust in each other if they want to weather this storm…and come out on the other side of it together.

Buy links:

Amazon | B&N | iBookstore | Kobo

About Sara:
I write what I love—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. On the personal side, I’m a frazzled maid, chauffeur, and slave to my children. I was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels. (The children’s book The Bravest Squirrel Ever by my alter-ego Sara Shafer is the squirrel’s fictionalized version of that experience!) I’m crazy about country music and the drama of NASCAR. And I have my very own happily-ever-after romance with my hero husband.

Never Love a Scoundrel

Tags

Book Review, Darcy Burke, Never Love a Scoundrel, Secrets and Scandals series

New review is now up.

*****

Lord Jason Lockwood has a horrible reputation, full of madness and vice.  A family scandal almost a decade ago has left him on the outside of society, left to find his own place in the world surrounded by those considered without respectability … like him.  He blatantly throws wild parties full of all manner of debauchery, uncaring that he will not be able to rejoin polite society.  Then he meets Lady Lydia Prewitt.  Lydia is also not well regarded by society, but for a different reason.  Thanks to her gossip-mongering aunt, she is feared instead.  Wanting to find acceptance and a husband to create a family with, Lydia sees the opportunity to improve her standing by helping Lockwood reenter society.  But as they spend time together, Lydia’s feelings for Lockwood grow … can she chance a relationship with him if it means being exiled as well?

Never Love a Scoundrel is the fifth book in Darcy Burke’s “Secrets and Scandals” series and delivers a nice mix of intrigue and passion that is guarantee to keep readers enthralled.  Her characters are wonderfully complex, with flaws and quirks that will draw you in and steal your heart.  Lockwood has scars, not only from his most recent family scandal but from his childhood too, that cause him to exist on the fringes.  He has his reasons, and they are good ones, but they definitely affect his dealings with Lydia.  And there’s a mystery surrounding his half-brother, Ethan, and his activities that are at the core of the book, and Lockwood’s reason for being back in society, that is very engrossing.  Readers of the previous stories will recognize Ethan and the good news is his story will finally be told in the next book.

This is the first of this series that I’ve read and there are some characters and plot points that move throughout the series (or at least from book to book), but I was easily able to keep up.  It does end with a bit of a cliff-hanger that will be resolved in the final book, Scoundrel Ever After (due out this fall), but there was enough of a resolution in this one to feel satisfying.  I’m definitely hooked enough to want to read the next one too … and get my hands on the previous four stories as soon as possible!

Stephanie Evanovich Live Chat

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Big Girl Panties, BookTrib live chat, Stephanie Evanovich

Don’t miss BookTrib’s live chat TOMORROW with
Stephanie Evanovich
Author of
BIG GIRL PANTIES
and niece of Janet Evanovich!

*****

Click on this link to sign up for a reminder to tune in 7/24 @ 3pm for a #BTLiveChat with Stephanie Evanovich, author of BIG GIRL PANTIES.  And don’t miss my review here!

A Rogue’s Rescue

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A Rogue's Rescue, Book Review, Donna Lea Simpson

Despite her vast wealth, Miss Ariadne Lambert, at the ripe old age of thirty-three, is a plain and aging spinster with little but a fading hope that a knight in shining armor will come to sweep her off her feet. Which makes her the perfect prey for the unscrupulous “Dapper” Dorsey, who would stop at nothing to seduce a needy and wealthy woman and then coldly fritter away her funds in the gaming halls of London. As Ariadne succumbs first to his wily charms and then to his kisses, will her need for affection rob her of her dignity—and her fortune?

Viscount Ingram, whose soiled reputation from one especially salacious incident has left him exiled to the sidelines of society, marks his time as a dark and brooding man, tolerated more for his title than his merit. But even he has his standards, and when he learns of a rival’s plot to seduce and then steal from a helpless spinster, he vows to stop him.

Ingram’s noble sentiments and uncharacteristic sincerity are in for a shock, however, as he discovers that the hopelessly gullible Ariadne is in fact a clever and shrewd woman who’s got more than a silly giggle up her sleeve. As the two team up in a devilish scheme to bring about the final undoing of Dorsey, cooperation turns to admiration and then attraction, and they discover that their last chance to repair their reputations may also be their first chance at finding true love.

*****

A Rogue’s Rescue is a fun little romantic double-cross.  Ingram thinks that Ariadne is a sucker, the perfect mark for a man looking to take advantage of her for her money.  But she’s actually savvy, smart and has a plan to show a rogue like Dorsey a thing or two.  She’s a little different than the average society lady but that’s perfect for Ingram because he needs someone a little different, someone who will see beyond the reputation that society has given him.  He may not have been an angel as a young man, but he’s definitely grown into a fine gentleman … people just choose not to see it.  Because of the charade that they both are living, the delusion they operate under is entertaining and it’s very sweet once they finally start to get to know the real people underneath.  I so love that these two found each other.  And the setup that they have for Dan is fun and adds that extra bit of sass and fun to a story of two people falling in love.

This is a fast read and comes in at just at under 100 pages, but it’s perfect if you are looking for a bite-sized regency romance.  A perfect way to spend a pretty summer afternoon, surrounded by lords and ladies and a little intrigue.

Brazen Bash

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Brazen Bash

Brazen Books, who brought us Wrong Bed Right Guy, Officer Off Limits, Seducing Cinderella, and Tempting the Player – to name just a few – is turning 1 this month, and they’re celebrating in a big way. They’ve got a ton of great things going on this week, including Twitter parties, FB events, and even a huge sale!  Full deets below:

• Epic Giveaways – Don’t miss the Brazen Bash on Thursday, July 25th from 7 to 10 pm EST where you can comment to win a $50 prize pack, $75 prize pack, or $125 prize pack.  Prize packs will be a combination of Gift cards from Amazon/B&N, Adam & Eve, and Sephora! You can find out more details on the Brazen Facebook page here – https://www.facebook.com/BrazenBooks or at the Brazen Bash event page here – https://www.facebook.com/events/173847339463075/

• Q&A’s with NYT bestselling authors – Twitter Chat with Laura Kaye @laurakayeauthor Tuesday, July 23rd from 9 to 10 pm EST. Twitter Chat with Katee Robert @katee_robert Wednesday, July 24th from 6 to 7 pm PST. They’ll be using the hashtag #BrazenBash so you can easily join in the conversation.

• Photo contest – Be sure to check out Brazen’s Tumblr page to share your favourite pictures of swoon-worthy men that remind you of the heroes in Brazen books! Either post your picture to your own tumblr using the tag “brazenbash” Or you can submit your photo directly to the Brazen tumblr page here http://brazenbooks.tumblr.com/submit. Make sure to tweet your tumblr posts as well using #BrazenBash

• Surprise 99 cent sale! – They’ve dropped the price of 8 of their top-selling titles for 1 week only – now until the 28th! Tell your mom, your sisters, your co-workers!

  • Seducing Cinderella by Gina Maxwell

  • Wrong Bed, Right Guy by Katee Robert

  • Officer Off Limits by Tessa Bailey

  • Private Practice by Samanthe Beck

  • Tempting the Best Man by Jennifer Armentrout

  • One Night with a Hero by Laura Kaye

  • No Flowers Required by Cari Quinn

  • Game for Marriage by Karen Erickson

By Design

Tags

Book Review, By Design, Jayne Denker

In By Design, Emmie Brewster is not having a good year.  She’s in a dead end job and a dead end relationship, plus she’s just celebrated the first anniversary of her mom’s death.  What she doesn’t need is to see what fabulous lives her high school classmates have.  When a gorgeous man comes in to her office to hire her boss’s interior design firm, she thinks that things could be looking up.  Just as fantasies start to take root she finds out he is involved with one of those successful classmates … a married classmate.  Will she listen her friends and learn to go after what she wants – a better job, a better man, a better life?

It took me a while to read this one and I’m not sure why.  I think the very beginning might have been a little slow but once I got into it I just couldn’t put it down.  I’d try to find a stopping point to do those mundane, everyday things (like cook and eat) but I’d get to the end of a chapter and find myself compelled to keep reading.

Emmie has a horrible boss who treats her like a nobody and, even though she has a design degree, she’s not allowed to do more than get coffee.  Her boyfriend runs around on her and comes back when it is convenient.  Now that her mom has died, it seems like her dad wants nothing more than to explore the world, ignoring Emmie in the process.  And then she finds out that the new guy she’s been crushing on may or may not be dating a married woman.  It’s a complicated, messy situation but definitely one that you could easily see happening in real life.

She does have support, though – wonderful, sweet, quirky people who are a treat to read.  And she eventually learns to find that inner woman who knows who she is and what she wants and is brave enough to do something about it.  Some people may not approve of Graham – either his actions before or after meeting Emmie – but I thought the resolution to all of their issues was beautifully done and I cheered for Emmie through the last third of the book.

By Design is an engaging story not only about finding love, but also about finding yourself.

Love Him or Leave Him by Sara Daniel Blog Tour

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Love Him or Leave Him, Love Him or Leave Him Blog Tour, Sara Daniel

We’re about halfway thru this great blog tour but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy it.  There will be interviews, guest posts, excerpts and a $25 Amazon gift card giveaway (here).  Click on the picture below to find links to all the stops and come back here on July 25th for a guest post by author Sara Daniel.  You can also find my review of Love Him or Leave Him here.

Sometimes dreams are where you least expect them.

Connor O’Malley and Becca Sanders were once high school sweethearts, ripped apart by rumors in the small town of Kortville, Illinois. Connor left to join the military, and Becca stayed, waiting for her younger brother to graduate so she could live her dreams of traveling the world. But now that Connor’s back as the town sheriff, Becca finds herself struggling to resist the too-handsome man who once broke her heart.

Connor loves Kortville—its quaintness keeps at bay the painful memories of Afghanistan he’s sure make him unworthy of any woman, particularly the beautiful brunette he’s always secretly dreamed of a future with. But when a scandal rocks the town, suddenly Connor and Becca must trust in each other if they want to weather this storm…and come out on the other side of it together.

Buy links:

Amazon | B&N | iBookstore | Kobo

About Sara:

I write what I love—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. On the personal side, I’m a frazzled maid, chauffeur, and slave to my children. I was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels. (The children’s book The Bravest Squirrel Ever by my alter-ego Sara Shafer is the squirrel’s fictionalized version of that experience!) I’m crazy about country music and the drama of NASCAR. And I have my very own happily-ever-after romance with my hero husband.

Follow my blog, like me on Facebook or email me for the latest updates on my books and writing projects or to debate the best race car drivers!

Sara online:

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads