Blog Tour ~ Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing

 

 

Title:  Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing

Author: Kathy Cano-Murillo

Series:

Publication Date: March 8, 2011

Synopsis:

Scarlet doesn't do things like other people. Unfortunately, this leads to some misunderstandings, like when her manager at the fabric store mistakes her measuring methods for assault. But while she may not be as wealthy as her siblings, or as respected as her grandmothers-strict seamstresses whose criticism left Scarlet permanently pattern-phobic-she will be soon. She's been offered a position with Johnny "Scissors" Tijeras, the hottest young designer in New York. To raise money for her move, Scarlet opens an after-hours sewing school in a local record shop, attracting a surprising mix of students. Future freeform garment makers include a high-strung office manager whose marriage counselor thinks she needs to learn to break some rules, and an elderly seamstress with a secret past. But as friendships grow, the lines between teacher and student blur, proving there is no single pattern for happiness-it is always a custom fit.


Review:

I don't read a lot of "chick lit."  It's usually not my thing.  What made me reconsider is that this book is about a "crafty" person.  I LOVE being crafty.  I may not be great at it but I still LOVE it!

Scarlet Santana is one heck of a spitfire!  She holds two degrees in engineering and her family is pressuring her to settle down and get a "real" job.  But Scarlet being Scarlet has her own idea for how she wants to live her life.

By day Scarlet works for a local designer by the name of Carly Fontaine.  On her own time, Scarlet designs her own wardrobe, sells her "line" on her Etsy store and spends time blogging about her favorite heroine, Daisy de la Flora.  The now deceased Daisy was a designer and person who Scarlet looks up to and admires.  Now through her blog Scarlet shares with her "fans" her dream of living a Daisy-inspired life.

When given the chance to attend a designer's program offered by the late Daisy's nephew, Scarlet creates her own class to teach others the way of patternless sewing that her Nana had taught her.  All of this in an effort to raise funds to attend this program.  Through this class, we the readers are introduced to a vast variety of characters that all need a little help getting there lives back on track.  There fearless leader, Scarlet included.

I thought that this was a very cute read.  I did have a hard time putting it down once I got into it too!  Honestly, up until this tour came along I had not heard of this author or the web page that she writes.  I think the best thing about this author, for me anyway, is that she writes very strong female characters.  They have a goal that they set for themselves and you just can't help but cheer them on as they work towards reaching that goal.

Blog Tour ~ Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing Giveaway, Guest Feature and Book Trailer

 

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Kathy Cano-Murillo's new book Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing.  I want to thank Kathy for dropping by The Book Junkie's Bookshelf today.  I asked Kathy the following question:

This book is about a person who has a "crafty" hobby....Do you have any "crafty" hobbies you like to partake in when you’re not writing?

Here is what Kathy had to say....

I sure do! So much that I converted my living room into my art studio! I love to make assemblage pieces, like dimensional scrapbooks, I also love to made jewelry and collages and I love to sew. When I’m working on my arts and crafts, I daydream about new characters and situations I want to put them in.

Kathy can be found in the following places:

Author Bio and Photo (photo on the left is from this site.)
Twitter - @CraftyChica
Facebook - CraftyChica
Webpage - CraftyChica


Here is the loverly trailer for this wonderful book...I hope you enjoy it!



Now for the fun part!  I have been given the go ahead to give away 2 prize packs.  Each prize pack will include a copy of Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing AND Kathy's first book Waking Up In The Land of Glitter.  Now for the rules:

1. Leave a comment with an email address so that I can contact you if you should be one of the winners.

2. Open to US and Canada

3. Contest closes March 20th at 11:59 pm CST.

    

Blog Tours and Giveaways

Coming up on March 4th there will be a blog tour rolling through Nitty Gritty.  There will be chances to win a copy of 2 different books...If you have a thing for historical Scotland these are right up your alley!  There will also be a guest post by one of the authors.  I hope you'll drop by and check it.  

Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young Blog Tour

Title: Buying Time
Author: Pamela Samuels Young

Series:

Genre: Fiction, Thriller

Publisher: Goldman House

Release Date: 2009, November 1

Format: Paperback, 370 pages

Source: Received for the blog tour

 

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Smuttiness: N/A

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

 

Waverly Shaw is a down-on-his-luck lawyer who stumbles upon a potentially lucrative business just when he's about to hit rock bottom. In his new line of work as a viatical broker, Waverly comes to the rescue of people in desperate need of cash. There's a catch, however, his clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they receive a dime. Waverly then finds investors to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker's fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath. The stakes get higher when Lawrence Erickson, who's bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General, hires Waverly to broker the insurance policy of his cancer-stricken wife. But Waverly's clients start dying sooner than they should, and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—is unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail, and murder. With two determined federal prosecutors hot on his trail, Waverly is on the run, and this time he might need some life insurance.

 

Review:

 

I was asked if I would be interested in reading this book as part of a blog tour and I happily agreed.  This is the first thriller that I've read that has been written by a woman also.  I'm so very glad that I was asked if I wanted to participate because I thought that this book was AWESOME SAUCE!

 

Buying Time is an extremely fast paced read as well as being a page turner.  Once I started reading this work of art I was fully sucked into the story.  I did think that as the book was progressing there were a lot of "cliff hangers" throughout but the farther I got into the book everything fell into place and I was plesantly surprised.

 

The way the book was written I thought was pretty unique.  There are two side stories in Buying Time an I found that with the I was constantly trying to figure out what the link was.  I thought that all of the characters were pretty interesting as well....They all have there own conflicts and issues going on and I thought it was great how all those conflicts and issues help to form the story.

 

Another big plus (at least in my opinion) is that by the end there is no clearly defined hero.  I think that's a first for me also.  Almost all of the books I've read there is a hero.  So for the author to have no hero got her a lot of bonus points with me...keeping things interesting is AWESOME SAUCE.

 

Overall, I thought that this was a exceptionally well written thriller that has a VERY strong plot and VERY strong solidly written characters.  I'm also very impressed by how well researched the book was.  Pretty much what I'm telling you is to add Buying Time to your TBR pile!  Do it...you won't be sorry. 

 

My Avenging Angel Tour Stop

NOTE: I would like to apologize for this post being up so late....It seems that Blogger ate my original post.

Q. With vampires and werewolves being so popular what drove you towards Angels and Demons rather than sticking with the "status quo?"

A. You know, it’s the weirdest thing but I can blame my fascination on angels with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The whole thing started as a dream after watching a Buffy episode.

It’s a common theme. I heard and read many paranormal romance authors state they can trace at least part of their interest in the paranormal back to that show. Buffy, the kick-ass heroine and Angel, the tortured hero. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?

And that’s how it began for me. After watching one of those episodes, I went to sleep that night and found myself immersed in a story about a girl who, like Buffy, killed the things that went bump in the night. But on this particular night, it was not one of those scary things she found herself facing, but an angel. One who claimed she was his reincarnated mate. And so the story of Gabriel and Ariadne began to form in my head. Ten years later, they became a side note to the plot in My Avenging Angel.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love to dabble in vampires and werewolves but in the little world I’ve created, angels and those that have fallen are the toughest kids on the block. And not always in a good way. They are not robe wearing pacifists. They drink, they cuss. They are warriors, the men and the women, and they totally get behind that whole smite you thing.

Really, why they hold such a fascination over me, I couldn’t really say. I only know that they do and I am no where done telling their stories. Hopefully you as readers are as interested in their stories as I am in writing them.

My Avenging Angel blurb:
To save her life, he must break a covenant—and lose his heart.

An Angels and Demons story.

It’s Victoria Bloom’s twenty-fifth birthday. But is she out celebrating? Oh, no. She’s in a stuffy old attic with the Three Stooges—a.k.a. her so-called spirit guides. There’s a demon who wants her dead, the same one that killed her mother two decades ago. No worries, say the Stooges. All she has to do is summon an angel. What could go wrong?

Well, plenty when you summon the wrong angel. The next thing Tory knows, she’s got one very bad-ass, pissed-off and sexy Archangel on her hands.

Michael, mighty warrior, leader of an elite team of demon killers, is shaking in his heavenly combat boots. Not because he finds all humans distasteful. But because he’d rather face Lucifer himself than the woman his soul has just recognized as his mate. Binding himself to a mortal, one who will eventually die, is the one path he’s sworn never to follow.

It’s too late now; his fate is sealed. With one touch, she becomes as necessary to him as the air he breathes. He will move heaven and earth to protect her—but against a demon as powerful as Asmodeus, heaven and earth may not be enough…

Warning: This book contains one bad-ass Archangel with a fiery, um, sword, a witch who blows things up, one nasty demon who is trying to kill them both, and ghosts who make interfering their mission. Steamy sex is had, even with the voyeur ghosts—though Tory is still blushing.

Excerpt:

Striding through the maze of intricate passageways, Michael wrestled to get his temper under control. He was leader of the Powers, an elite group of warriors originally formed to police their own kind but whose sole purpose was now hunting down and terminating those who joined Lucifer’s ranks. He should have been immune to the trappings of humans. Or so he would have liked to believe. It was a valuable lesson born home by a tiny blonde he could have crushed with his bare hands if he’d been inclined. But he hadn’t and it just pissed him off.

Instead, the need to draw her into his arms had slammed him in the chest. For the briefest moment, he’d actually felt his soul reach for hers. Michael had stopped that shit almost immediately. He’d seen what mating with a human had done to Gabriel. The death of Ariadne Duchesne had damn near destroyed him. In the four hundred years since she’d been slain, he and Gabriel had spoken maybe a couple dozen words and those had all been laced with hostility. At least from Gabriel’s end. He blamed Michael for her death. It was why Michael had agreed to help the human. He wanted to make amends. Not because she made his dick harder than a spike and his soul cry with need.

“Big of you to grace us with your presence.”

Michael folded his arms across his chest and arched a brow at his second in command, hardly amused by Zadkiel’s sardonic drawl. Never mind Zadkiel had been the one Tory had been trying to summon. Tory… Best to forget about her with all that luscious blonde hair smelling of lilacs.

Shit. If he got a hard-on Zadkiel would never let him live it down.

“Maybe if you’d had something of interest to impart, I’d have stuck around.”

“How’s this, lord asshole? A report has come in from Skath. A witch managed to scry upon one of Lucifer’s high-ranking lieutenants.”

“Who?” Michael demanded, letting the asshole comment slide because when Lucifer’s name was uttered in his presence, the rage flooding his system usually prevented him from concentrating on anything else. The knife his once best friend had quite literally embedded in his back was not something Michael had ever thought he would forget. Until today. Today the all-encompassing fury was replaced with something feeling suspiciously like fear.

Zadkiel cocked his head to the side, studying Michael for a moment and holding his breath. Michael waited for the smart-ass comment that never came.

“Asmodeus. He’s somewhere in the Houston area.”

As the air rushed from his lungs, Michael nodded, glancing away. If Asmodeus was in Houston he was far from Boston and Tory. “Gather a team and keep me informed. I want to know every move he makes before the bastard makes it.”

“Michael, what’s going on?”

Michael had turned to leave, wanting to gather a few things from his room before he returned to Tory, but Zadkiel’s quiet question stopped him in his tracks. He sighed. It wasn’t like he was particularly surprised. He didn’t usually get involved in the hunt unless it was for one of the top-ten ruling archdemons. He commanded and his lieutenants followed. It was how things had worked before Ariadne had pulled him into this mess. Before Tory.

Ancient Whispers review

Ancient Whispers

Marie-Claude Bourque

May 25th 2010 by Love Spell (first published 2010)

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

Genre: Erotica, Paranormal Romance

Rating:

Synopsis (from goodreads):

“Make love to me, sorcerer. Show me your powers.”
Gabriel is the youngest member of the Priory of Callan—an ancient Celtic brotherhood of cursed sorcerers and alchemists, each with deadly abilities and each haunted by a tragic past. Tortured by the devastating loss of his fiancée in 1755, Gabriel wants nothing more than to reunite with his soul mate.
Two and a half centuries later, Gabriel is still searching for his love. And then he finds Lily Bellefontaine. Cool-headed and practical, she has no memory of Gabriel. But she also can’t deny the pull of attraction drawing her under his seductive spell, urging her to give in to the…
ANCIENT WHISPERS

Review:

NOTE: This book does contain EXPLICIT content, so it should only be read by adults!

A little back story first.....I was invited to join this tour a little while ago. In all honesty I remembered signing up for a tour but I couldn't remember what book it was for (life is getting crazy around here again!), turns out it was this one. Then the book itself was accidentally delivered to my neighbors while they were on vacation and I got it the next week when they came home from vacation....so I apologize if this screws up the tour schedule at all.

When I started this book I was a little bit confused as to why the prolouge started in 1755 and then the first chapter was "present day." But as I read further it all started to make perfect sense. Once all the pieces fell into place, I had a VERY hard time putting this book down! It's got a little bit of everything in there too, romance, action, uber sexy male lead, and uber sexy supporting male characters just to name a few things!

Personally, I think it's a steamy little love story of uber sexy sorcerers who have sold their soul to eventually be reunited with a long lost loved one. A few love spells are cast which leads to UBER HOT SEX (in my opinion anyway). After the first couple of pages (the confused pages) I pretty much fell in lust with the story....so much so that I did not want it to end! So much so that I went and purchased it in e-book format on my Barnes and Noble Nook so I can read it again and again and again.

I LOVED all the characters in this book. They are all very interesting and all have shall we say "complicated" pasts. Which is really going to make the rest of this series (yup there will be MORE uber sexy sorcerers and UBER HOT SEX) VERY, VERY interesting. The main character Gabe, well how can you NOT love a guy who's been in love with and devoted to the same woman for centuries, only knowing that EVENTUALLY you will get to see her again?! Call me weird, but I think that's not only romantic but a little bit hot too!

All the Good Men tour stop

Author Information:
Cindy Jacks
website: http://cindyjacks.com/

Author bio:
Prior to becoming a writer of romantic and erotic fiction, Cindy was a 'jacks' of all trades. Besides obtaining a BFA in sculpture, interning as a pastry-chef, and learning the art of furniture restoration, she worked for ten years in the corporate arena, but now happily spends her days as a full time author. Her first published work--"The Point of Distraction Series"--was inspired by a collection of short stories she wrote to entertain her best friend. Since then she's explored her inner bad girl and penchant for love stories by producing books full of humor and packed with real emotion. When not chained to her laptop, she enjoys belly dancing, international cooking, and making jewelry. She and her family call the Washington, DC area home.






Excerpt (Rated R version):


Her fingers slid over the ripples of his abdomen. Caressing her cheek, he moved in and brushed his lips against hers. Dahlia relaxed against him.


One button at a time, she worked until the shirt fell open. Smooth, cotton fabric glided over his shoulders and fluttered to the floor. She grimaced at his undershirt; just another layer of clothes separating her from his fragrant skin. Pulling it over his chest, she was forced to break away from his embrace to liberate him from the garment. He seized the opportunity to strip her of her t-shirt as well.


Large hands skimmed along her collarbone and followed her bra strap to the swell of her breasts. He folded his arms around her again. Despite the heat that passed between them, his touch gave her goosebumps. His tongue traced the curve of her neck, making her shiver.
Slow, deliberate kisses worked up her throat, brushed past her ear, then captured her lips. A deft motion behind her unsnapped her bra. Shimmying free of it, her bare breasts grazed against his torso. More tremors of excitement darted through her.


Jackson scooped her up and carried her to the bed. Her ruffled comforter felt cool against her back. He leaned in and covered her mouth with his. The dim light filtering through the curtains, the whir of the ceiling fan, even the intrusive red light from her alarm clock on the bedside table—everything else faded away until she was aware only of his warmth, his scent, and the feel of his lips against hers. She lost herself in the rhythm of his heartbeat, her own pulse picking up speed.



A hand slid underneath her skirt and up the length of her thigh. She let out a long sigh as he settled his hand between her legs. Slow, gentle strokes over her silken panties created a throbbing ache she could hardly bear. It'd been so long since anyone had touched her much less so handsome and sensual a man.


Jackson slid down her abdomen and left a trail of kisses in his wake. Her stomach quivered with each light brush of his lips across her skin. Reaching the junction of her hips and legs, his tongue skipped along the crease of her inner thigh...

So where did the idea for All the Good Men come from?.........Well let's ask Cindy!

The inspiration for my novel, All the Good Men, came by way of the heroine whispering to me while I kneaded bread dough—oddly enough, much of my inspiration comes to me while cooking—but my most true-to-life character in the book has to be the hero, the sexy Jackson Carmichael. Jackson is modeled after my real-life firefighter boyfriend. From having the honor of watching their Community Day training burn—a training fire detailed in the novel—to partying with the crew during their annual banquet, I've enjoyed so much getting to know this great group of individuals. Discovering the fellowship, bravery and sense of duty harbored by my local fire department is truly inspirational. The star of that inspiration, of course, is the love of my life—FF Salazar.

Though I borrowed much of Jackson's personality and professional experiences from my man, the character also took on a life of his own. Jackson's about ten years older than my real-life boyfriend and the personal demons with which the hero struggles are fictional. And I'm not ashamed to admit I envisioned Grey's Anatomy's Eric Dane often when writing descriptions of the character. Yeah, I have a big crush on McSteamy, but the BF and I agree that if All the Good Men is ever made into a movie, Benjamin Bratt would be our first choice for the lead. Sorry, Eric!

All the Good Men is a very personal story for me and I hope for my readers the intimate details add to the depth of the story.Now don't forget to stop by the other blogs that are on the tour....everytime you comment on one of the blogs you are that much closer to possibly winning a prize at the end of the tour. All the tour stops and information about the prize can be found here on Goddess Fish Promotions.

Upcoming All The Good Men blog tour

On June 8th I will be hosting a tour stop for Cindy Jack's book All the Good Men (click the title to see which blogs are on the tour), courtesy of Goddess Fish Promotions. Here is a little information about the book, borrowed from the Goddess Fish Promotions blog:
"Dahlia is sure the hackneyed platitude is true: After a certain age, all the good men are married or gay. She feels her thirty-eight years put her well past that 'certain age.' Her best friend and her sisters dare her to put her fate where her mouth is. The terms of the challenge? During the month of October, she has to end her five-year-long man fast and go on dates with men of their choosing. Oh, and she also has to go out with anyone else who asks.
As the date disasters pile up, the vindication almost makes the torturous evenings bearable for Dahlia. But a handsome new neighbor, Jackson Carmichael, moves in, changing the rules of the game. Retired after twenty-six years as a pro firefighter in Boston, he volunteers with the local fire department, coaches a youth hockey team, and appears for all the world to be the perfect man. He just might throw a wrench into Dahlia's plan to die lonely and single...that is if she doesn't scare him away first."
The actual tour starts on May 31st and goes until June 25. I say this because if you visit each site on the tour and leave a comment (be sure to include an e-mail address so if your the winner you can be notified) there is a giveaway at the end of the tour (see information below).
Giveaway information:
Cindy will be giving away a signed print copy of her book and a branded "Fiction for the Bad Girl in Every Woman" book bag to one randomly drawn commenter from the tour.
To enter, please visit each day's tour stop listed above and comment on Cindy's post. A drawing will be held at the conclusion of her tour and the winner notified (please make sure you include an email address with your entry).

Upcoming Virtual Book Tour

On June 8th I will be hosting a tour stop for Cindy Jack's book All the Good Men (click the title to see which blogs are on the tour), courtesy of Goddess Fish Promotions. Here is a little information about the book, borrowed from the Goddess Fish Promotions blog:"Dahlia is sure the hackneyed platitude is true: After a certain age, all the good men are married or gay. She feels her thirty-eight years put her well past that 'certain age.' Her best friend and her sisters dare her to put her fate where her mouth is. The terms of the challenge? During the month of October, she has to end her five-year-long man fast and go on dates with men of their choosing. Oh, and she also has to go out with anyone else who asks.As the date disasters pile up, the vindication almost makes the torturous evenings bearable for Dahlia. But a handsome new neighbor, Jackson Carmichael, moves in, changing the rules of the game. Retired after twenty-six years as a pro firefighter in Boston, he volunteers with the local fire department, coaches a youth hockey team, and appears for all the world to be the perfect man. He just might throw a wrench into Dahlia's plan to die lonely and single...that is if she doesn't scare him away first."The actual tour starts on May 31st and goes until June 25. I say this because if you visit each site on the tour and leave a comment (be sure to include an e-mail address so if your the winner you can be notified) there is a giveaway at the end of the tour (see information below).Giveaway information:Cindy will be giving away a signed print copy of her book and a branded "Fiction for the Bad Girl in Every Woman" book bag to one randomly drawn commenter from the tour. To enter, please visit each day's tour stop listed above and comment on Cindy's post. A drawing will be held at the conclusion of her tour and the winner notified (please make sure you include an email address with your entry).

Learning to Stand review and giveaway

Learning to Stand
Claudia Hall Christian

347 pages
Category: Thriller

Rating:

.75

Synopsis from the back of the book:
Last year, Major Alexandra "The Fey" Hargreaves' lost everything and almost lost her life. Now, everyone expects her to move on. Everyone, except Alex.
Fragile and lost, she stumbles and falls.
When a small child's life is in danger, only Alex can save him. Setting aside her grief, the horror of the past and betrayal in the present, she musters the strength and courage to rally her team to rescue him.
And Alex learns to stand again.
Learning to Stand is the second fast-paced, heartwarming novel in the Alex the Fey Thriller series.
Review:

I was asked by the author of this book to read, review and be part of a blog tour. This is actually a first for me...I've never done a blog tour before. I am glad that I was asked to begin with. I am even happier that I was able to participate in the tour.

Alex"The Fey" is in charge of setting up a top notch team of indivduals who go in and rescue hostages. See Alex was part of the original team but the original team was massacred and Alex was the only survivor and she barely survived. So Alex is in charge of rebuilding the task force and brings together a team of individuals that know her and that she knows really well too. This is where the problem's start. Because her new team knows her so well, they sometimes have a problem following orders. In the end this situation is just one of the reasons that Alex decides to leave the military.

But fate is a funny thing!

Just when Alex thinks she's done and her "team" thinks they are being sent off to some pretty interesting assignments, a little voice, and I mean that literally, calls "The Fey" looking for help. Turns out this little voice is one of many children that a missing Cee Cee Joiner has and is a hostage, well one of many. There is a special place in hell for the people who have taken these kids hostage in my opinion.

This missing Joiner fellow is no boyscout either...there is reason to believe that he knew something or was involved in the massacre of the original Fey team. So now the race is on. To figure out where Joiner is, what he knows about the massacre fo the original Fey team and why he only took out life insurance policies on his male children.

There is oh so much more to this book also, but because I don't want to give away the WHOLE book I'm going to stop right here. If you want to know more you'll just have to either win the book OR purchase the book.....All that information is available below.

Overall, I LOVED this book. I wasn't able to give it 5 boots because there were a couple places in the book where I wasn't able to keep track of who was saying what. That's it, that is the only reason it didn't get 5 boots. There are a lot of complex characters and situations in this book and it will keep you guessing and wanting to know what happens next. I totally recommend this book to anyone!


Giveaway Rules:

1. Fill out the form

2. The Giveaway will go until 12:01 CST Friday May 28.

3. Open to US and Canada

Broken review

Broken
Shiloh Walker
336 pages
Ratings:

Source: The Book Vixen
Avaliable: March 2, 2010

Challenges: 100+ Challenge, 144 books in 2010, Romance Reading Challenge, Contemporary Romance Challenge, 2010 Romance Challenge

Synopsis:

Shattered

Quinn Rafferty is working as a bounty hunter and bail bondsman in St. Louis when a new neighbor catches his eye. He’s tempted by her beauty—but he knows from experience that anyone desperate enough to live in his building is damaged goods. Besides, he has his own soul to mend before he can worry about anyone else.

Desperate

Sarah McElya is on the run, but not for the usual reasons a woman goes on the lam. She’s not an abused wife, and she’s not a criminal. But she does have a plan for her future. And as much as she finds herself attracted to her gruff, tough neighbor, she can’t risk telling him the secrets she’s hiding. There’s just too much at stake.

Driven to desire…

But Quinn must get closer to Sarah when she turns out to be the target of his new missing persons case, and he discovers that there is something more complex and dangerous to her than he thought. Now, both Quinn and Sara will have to expose their true feelings—as well as their fragile hearts—if they hope their love will survive…

Review:

Quinn is a bounty hunter for a private agency. He's very good at his job because he doesn't get to close to anyone much less trust anyone either. See Quinn comes from a troubled past....broken home, abusive parent (with certain addictions), the whole nine yards. So when his mother dies of a drug overdose Quinn is put into the care of the father he never knew he had. Oh, and he has a twin brother named Luke that he never knew about either!

Sara has been on the run for a long time. She's got her reasons, but they aren't the ones that you'd typically expect. Because of those reasons she doesn't stay in one place all that long. Once she moves into this quaint little apartment and meets her new neighbor, the Mighty Quinn, she's instantly attracted to him but decides that she should stay away to protect herself from the unknown.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE SHILOH WALKER?! This is the first book by Walker that I have read and I will DEFINATELY be reading more! I read the book description on Goodreads not long after The Book Vixen "gave away" the opportunity to become involved in the ARC tour for this book and decided that it was defiantely a book that I was interested in learning more about.

I was a little confused about Elena, who is a character from Quinn's past. But I'm hoping that reading books prior to Broken will answer the questions that I have about her and Quinn's "relationship."

In the beginning I was slightly confused about the little tidbits from Sara's text messages and the little glimpses into her past but the further I got into the book the more this information made sense to me.

Oh and lets talk about the SIZZLING sex scenes! The last couple books haven't had ANY love scenes in them at all...Completely Asexual! I got to my first "scene" I was beyond pleasantly surprised....Defiantely a change in pace from the last couple of books that's for sure! ;)

Overall, I found yet another author to add to my favorite author list! I really enjoyed the way that the story was written, the characters the whole works. This was a very fast paced read....I'm SUPER short on sleep because I had to know what happened next. I defiantely recommend getting a copy of this book once it becomes available on MARCH 2!

What we're really thinking:

J, G & L - READ IT NOW!

For Keeps review

For Keeps
Natasha Friend
272 pages
Available: April 6, 2010
Rating: 3/5

Source: Around The World Tours

Synopsis:

For sixteen years, Josie Gardner and her mom, Kate, have been a team. It’s been the Gardner Girls against the world, and that’s how Josie likes it. Until one day, in the pet food aisle of Shop-Co, they run into the parents of Paul Tucci, Kate’s high school boyfriend—the father Josie has never met. If Mr. and Mrs. Tucci are back in town, it’s only a matter of time until Paul shows up. Suddenly Josie’s mature, capable mother regresses to the heartbroken teenager she was when Paul moved away. Meanwhile, Josie’s on the verge of having her first real boyfriend, while her free-loving best friend, Liv, begins yet another no-strings-attached fling. When Josie learns some surprising truths about Paul Tucci, she finds herself questioning what she’s always believed about her parents—and about herself. In FOR KEEPS, Natasha Friend tells a fresh, funny, smart story about what happens when a girl gets the guy she always wanted and the dad she never knew she needed.

Review:

I got this book Monday afternoon in the mail and sat down and devoured it on Tuesday. I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. I sort of felt that it was a little bit predictable (but in a good way...if that makes sense)....Mom had a baby as a teen, baby is now 16 and has yet to meet her dad, dad's parents move back to town (only a matter of time until dad shows up), mom freaks. Bring on the chaos!

Overall, I liked the characters...but the one that kind of wore me the wrong way a little bit was Liv. Every girl needs her BFF but I think Liv was a little bit overboard (for my taste anyway.) In the beginning it was ok but as the story went along it kind of got old. Loved Josie's relationship with her mom! Even in the "rough" moments. Writing wise...I didn't particularly like the way Josie and Rigg's relationship was written....it made Josie look like Riggs was more important than her mom. I also didn't care for how everytime Rigg's does something wrong she's mad at him for hardly no time at all and then just up a forgives him. But on a postive note....The book (characters and all) is written in a manner to keep the book very "real."

So overall, I didn't dislike the book but I didn't LOVE it either. I think that it was very "real" fiction.

What I really thought:

The Beginning: Wow those two really ARE close!

The Middle: LIV YOUR DRIVING ME CRAZY! I'm NOT enjoying Josie and Rigg's relationship AT ALL!

The End: I'm pretty sure I've seen this in TV show form somewhere?