Waiting on Wednesday #17

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here but started @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Synopsis:

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

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Kacii

Off Limits by Sawyer Bennett

Off Limits by Sawyer Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Publisher: Big Dog Books
Date Published: April 16th 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Nix is super hot and a bit of a douche. I can't say I blame him. I can be bitchy and I haven't ever gone through what he has. Nothing close to it. Emily is adorable. In a grown woman kind of way.

Nix is a former marine filled with demons. He harbors guilt and isolates himself from people by focusing on his metalwork and building motorbikes.

Emily is a former first-class snob and bitch. She still struggles getting control over her life. Her parents want her to present an image she doesn't want, and to date the guy they want.

When Emily nearly crushes Nix under her car, and actually ruins his motorcycle, she ends up working for him to pay off the debt.

I want to be the first to say that these two are the most awesome couple in the world! Emily is just... cute, in this weird, clueless girly way. And Nix has a weird sense of humor and he's hotter than the sun.

Love the book. I'm going to read the first one (which I should've done in the first place, but I didn't know there was a first one. I don't think it matters what order you read them in anyway).

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Synopsis:

“There is a vulnerability there, hovering just below the surface. And I want to pick at it until I expose it. Then I want to kiss it."

Two years ago, Emily Burnham, had an epiphany about the shallowness of her life. And she made it her mission to become a different person…a better woman. Out from under the controlling thumb of her mother, Emily is tasting the real world for the first time. And she likes it.

Nixon Caldwell has served his time in the Marine Corps, surviving two brutal tours in Afghanistan. He is back home, surrounded by what he likes best…isolation. It's certainly the best way to avoid confrontation of the consuming guilt that is weighing him down.

When an accident brings Emily and Nix together, he soon learns he is not the master of his own fate. Struggling with his own pain, Nix tries to guard himself against Emily’s charms. He wants her in his bed, but he doesn’t want her in his heart.

Having grabbed life by the horns, Emily wants it all. But is she willing to accept just the small part of himself that Nix is offering? Can she reach the part of his soul that he has deemed to be Off Limits?

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Kacii

The Love Game by Emma Hart

The Love Game by Emma Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Publisher: Emma Hart
Date Published: March 29th 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance

Okay, the author for this book is absolutely, positively, a GENIUS. Both ideas, the 'playing the player', and make-the-hot-girl-fall-in-love-with-you-so-you-can-get-in-her-panties concepts by themselves would be cliched. Together, the are the effing BOMB!

The two players in this dangerous game are Maddie and Braden. Braden is the king of players. And he's going to play Maddie right into his bed. Now Maddie? She's going to play the player. Make him fall in love with her and then shatter his heart so he knows how it feels. Only they both sort of end up falling for each other...

I am so freaking in love with this book. The characters had issues, they had originality, and they were out to screw the other person over so bad. It was a awesome. These sorts of books make me mad with glee. I was just laying in bed watching the drama unfold in my mind and it got me so psyched, in the best way possible.

New Adult is one of my favorite genres. This book is a prime example of new adult in all of its awesomeness. An idea: READ IT.

You won't find many other new adult books this wicked.

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Synopsis:

His challenge? Make her fall in love with him.
Her challenge? Play the player.
Until life changes the rules of the game.

Maddie Stevens hated Braden Carter on sight. Arrogant, egotistical, and the playboy of the University of California, Berkeley, he's everything her brother Pearce has taught her to despise. So why, when the girls challenge her to play the player, doesn't she say no? She doesn't know either.

Braden wanted fiery little Maddie the second he laid eyes on her - and he'd do anything to have her, hence why he's agreed to make her fall in love with him. After all, it's the only way he'll get what he wants. Sex.

But, as Braden discovers, there's more to the girl from Brooklyn than he ever imagined - and he can't help but care about the broken girl behind those pretty green eyes.

Maddie finds Braden isn't just a walking erection - he actually has feelings. He can be sweet, funny and his good looks don't exactly hurt. That means trouble - but when her brother Pearce turns up in Berkeley begging for her help, she realises Braden and Pearce aren't so alike anymore.

And maybe, just maybe, they're exactly what each other needs.

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Kacii

The Sunday Post #16

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by @Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~ It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on my blog.

Recap for This Week:

Shucked - Book Blitz: Monday, May 13th 2013
Translation of Love - Review: Tuesday, May 14th 2013
Waiting on Wednesday #16 - Meme: Wednesday, May 15th 2013
Coffee and Cockpits - Review: Thursday, May 16th 2013
The Heiresses - Book Blitz: Friday, May 17th 2013
Armed Forces Day - Awesome Day: Saturday, May 18th 2013
Stacking the Shelves #16 - Meme: Saturday, May 18th 2013

Upcoming Next Week:

The Love Game - Review: Monday, May 20th 2013
Off Limits - Review: Tuesday, May 21st 2013
Waiting on Wednesday #17 - Meme: Wednesday, May 22nd 2013
Real - Review: Thursday, May 23rd 2013
The Bet - Review: Friday, May 24th 2013
Stacking the Shelves #17 - Meme: Saturday, May 25th 2013
The Sunday Post #17 - Meme: Sunday, May 26th 2013

Kacii

Stacking the Shelves #16

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. If you’re anything like me, you are probably hoarding books and even though you are excited about your latest book arrival, it might be a while before you get to review it. Hosted @ Tynga's Reviews.



Synopsis:

Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes, or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation for the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed.

Alex D’Lynsal is trying to keep his name clean. As crown prince of Lilaria, he’s had his share of scandalous headlines, but the latest pictures have sent him packing to America and forced him to swear off women—especially women in the public eye. That is, until he meets Samantha Rousseau. She’s stubborn, feisty, and incredibly sexy. Not to mention heiress to an estate in his country, which makes her everyone’s front-page news.

While Sam tries to navigate the new world of politics and wealth, she will also have to dodge her growing feelings for Alex. Giving in to them means more than just falling in love; it would mean accepting the weight of an entire country on her shoulders.

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Today only you can get Phoenix for FREE on Amazon Kindle in celebration of Armed Forces Day. Phoenix is my novella for those of you who don't know.

Kacii

The Heiresses by Allison Rushby Book Blitz

The Heiresses by Allison Rushby
Publication date: May 7th, 2013
by St Martin's Press
Genre: New Adult Historical

Synopsis:

In Allison Rushby's Heiresses, three triplets--estranged since birth--are thrust together in glittering 1926 London to fight for their inheritance, only to learn they can’t trust anyone--least of all each other.

When three teenage girls, Thalia, Erato and Clio, are summoned to the excitement of fast-paced London--a frivolous, heady city full of bright young things--by Hestia, an aunt they never knew they had, they are shocked to learn they are triplets and the rightful heiresses to their deceased mother's fortune. All they need to do is find a way to claim the fortune from their greedy half-brother, Charles. But with the odds stacked against them, coming together as sisters may be harder than they think.

 

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AUTHOR BIO

Having failed at becoming a ballerina with pierced ears (her childhood dream), Allison Rushby instead began a writing career as a journalism student at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Within a few months she had slunk sideways into studying Russian. By the end of her degree she had learned two very important things: that she wasn't going to be a journalist; and that there are hundreds of types of vodka and they're all pretty good. After several years spent whining about how hard it would be to write a novel, she finally tried writing one and found it was quite an enjoyable experience. Since then, she has had nine novels published. She keeps up her education by sampling new kinds of vodka on a regular basis.

 

Author Links:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Crashing Downton Abbey

You can always pick people's happiest memories by the photos they stick up as backgrounds on their desktops. One of my happiest memories from the year my family and I spent living in Cambridgeshire happened quite by accident, but now takes pride of place when I start up my laptop each morning.

Knowing we would only be living in England for a year, we were active weekend and holiday travelers. On this occasion, we had just spent the weekend in Oxford and were on our way back home to our converted flour mill beside a lock in the little village of Buckden (yes, the word 'idyllic' springs to mind…).

I was, and still am, a huge Downton Abbey fan and remembered reading that the village scenes were shot in a real village in Oxfordshire.  Thus, before we set off home, we planned a quick detour to the village of Bampton.

Before long, we reached the outskirts of the village, which was when we began to see little neon production signs – all sorts of arrows and codes directing the production team to different surrounding fields and areas. It was a cold Sunday in February and already quiet on the roads, but it became quieter still as we navigated our way into the village itself, because it started to snow in a very nasty, rainy, sleety kind of way (sorry, Australians aren't great at describing these things. Let's put it this way: you were far better off being at the pub). By the time we got to the heart of the village, it was truly miserable weather.

Even before we parked the car, my mouth was on the floor. There was the church, complete with huge cameras wrapped up in red plastic and security guards sitting in their cars out front. There was Downton Cottage Hospital, complete with its sign. There was the pub. And the post office. The highlight, however, had to be the white bunting, strung up all over the village. Someone was getting married, I realised!

As my husband and two children looked on, somewhat amused, I spent the next hour running around like an absolute mad thing in the sleet, insisting they take my photo in front of this and in front of that. They put up with me for some time. Until the point where I insisted on having my photo taken on the stairs of the portable female loos, because Dame Maggie had probably been there.

Yes, we all froze half to death, but it was worth it (or at least I thought it was…) for those desktop photos that will last forever!

Purchase:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

GIVEAWAY

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

20 Paperback copies of The Heiresses (US/Can)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kacii

Coffee and Cockpits by Jade Hart

Coffee and Cockpits by Jade Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Publisher: Unknown
Date Published: April 11th 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary

I was honestly surprised by this book. It sounded like a good read, but wow, it totally blew my mind!

Nina is starting her first day as an airline hostess. Her secret? She wants to be in the cockpit flying the plane. And she likes a little salsa on the side.

Liam is a co-pilot and has been pining after Nina for a year, ever since he saw her after a flying lesson with the same passion on her face as he had every time he was flying. But Nina doesn't know that Liam likes her.

When the plane Liam's flying with the head pilot crashes, Nina and Liam are stranded in Samoa for a week on a sort of paid vacation. They fall in love, have awesome sex, and that's that.

I gotta say, whoa! There was a huge twist in this book that I didn't see coming. I wasn't expecting it at all. And I can't tell all of you people what the twist is, because that would spoil it for you. But I can guarantee that it was one helluva twist.

Loved the book. I can't wait to read more from this author.

View all my reviews

Synopsis:

“If I had to die, I wanted it to be doing something I loved, with a man who wanted to fly me to the moon.”

By day, Nina Poppins is a professional flight attendant, who lives to travel, and isn’t afraid to chase her dreams. By night, she’s an award winning salsa dancer who wears sexy corsets and garter belts. She wants to keep her two lives separate, but Liam Mikin knows her secrets.

Liam Mikin is a co-pilot used to getting any air-hostess he wants with one blazing look of his blue eyes. And he wants Nina. But Nina is adamant she won’t end up as another notch on a pilot’s wingtip.

However, fate intervenes when their airplane malfunctions on a routine flight to Samoa, stranding all the crew on the Pacific island. Liam has his opportunity to prove to Nina he’s not what she thinks, but he wasn’t counting on competition in the form of an engineer. Nikolai Rivers dances as well as Nina and is linked to Liam’s past. As Nikolai fights for Nina’s affections, Liam is forced to face what happened all those years ago.

Being island-wrecked in a five star hotel is anything but relaxing. Fraught with male egos, dancing, and secrets, both Nina and Liam aren’t ready for what fate has in store.

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Kacii

Waiting on Wednesday #16

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here but started @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Synopsis:

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

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Kacii

Translation of Love by Alice Montalvo-Tribue

Translation of Love by Alice Montalvo-Tribue
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Publisher: Alice Montalvo-Tribue
Date Published: April 18th 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance

When I first started this book, I rolled my eyes. I was thinking puh-lease, one bad break-up cannot seriously screw a person up that badly. Your making a big deal out of nothing.

Translation of Love is told from Ellie's point of view. She's not the most exciting character. Too hung on herself and her mysterious past relationship. She meets hot Latino singer Victor Garza and they start to date. They have issues, and bitches gonna fight.

Everything is sort of expected as far as the plot went. The characters were predictable and kind of boring. I can't say I was impressed with the story. It really needs some more originality, which it unfortunately lacked.

The one redeeming quality was the cover, which is what drew me in to the book in the first place. I guess that just gpes to show you really shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.

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Synopsis:

Ellie Brooks has spent the past two years of her life building barriers around herself that are guaranteed to keep people out and her demons in. She doesn't want to get close to anyone for fear of being hurt again. When she meets Latin superstar Victor Garza, she is shocked at how quickly he is able to penetrate her armor. She doesn't want to let him in but can't deny the chemistry they have. He has the potential to heal her wounds and open her heart but she isn't sure she can let him. Will love be enough to keep them together or will Ellie's past prove to be too much for the pair to overcome?

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Kacii

Shucked by Megg Jensen Book Blitz

Shucked by Megg Jensen
Publication date: April 14th 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary

Synopsis:

Suburgatory meets Indiana Jones...on a farm

Fifteen-year-old Tabitha has had the kind of life that would impress even the greatest adventurers. She's escaped a croc attack in the Amazon, walked the length of the Great Wall of China, and earned a black belt in taekwondo in Korea. She owes her worldly experience to her mother's career in archaeology, but when her mother takes on a dangerous new assignment, Tabitha is devastated to learn she can't tag along.

Instead, she's forced to live on a midwestern farm with her grandparents where she'll have to attend a full year of public school. It's Tabitha's greatest nightmare, because despite all her adventures, she has no practical experience with the one thing that frightens her the most - other teenagers.

Her math teacher is her mom's old high school boyfriend, she can't tell the friendly girls from the mean ones, and she develops a major crush on a boy she knows she can't trust. And just when she thinks she'll never get the hang of this normal teenager thing, an attack brings the danger of her previous life right up to her midwestern porch. Who could have ever guessed getting totally shucked would bring her face-to-face with her most exciting adventure yet?

 

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Purchase:

Amazon/Kindle
Barnes & Noble/Nook
iBookstore/iPad
Kobo

 

 

 

AUTHOR BIO

I've been a freelance parenting journalist since 2003 and began writing YA novels in 2009. I co-run DarkSide Publishing, am a member of SCBWI, and I blog about writing while juggling freelancing, volunteering, and family life. I live in the Chicago suburbs with my husband, two kids, and our miniature schnauzer, Ace.

 

Author Links:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter 

 

Excerpt:

 “Smith?” she barked at me. Yes, Smith is my last name. Unique, I know.

“Yes, Mrs. Jordan?” I asked in the sweetest voice I had.

“You,” she pointed at Becky, “hit the showers.”

Becky wiggled her fingers at me in a little wave. On the way to the locker room, she stubbed her toe. Becky hopped precariously on one foot while massaging the other. I was dying to see her walk a runway in heels after that.

I eyed the gym teacher. I’d been out of the country for a long time, but I was quite sure mullets went out of style about twenty years ago. Someone forgot to give her the memo on that. If Highlights Gone Wrong was a reality show, surely she’d be on it.

“You haven’t signed up for a sports team yet.” Mrs. Jordan dropped next to me on the bleachers, hiking up her pants as she sat. Legs spread wide, she rested her elbow on her knees, put her chin in her hands, and stared at me.

“Sports team?” I repeated.

“There’s nothing in your file about playing an instrument, right?”

I’d learned elementary didjeridu during a quick stint in Australia. I couldn’t imagine they had a section for that here. I shook my head.

“You are required to participate in an extra-curricular activity. Marching band is out. What skills do you have?”

I thought quickly. I didn’t want to end up on an awful team. Too short for volleyball. Too slow for track. No penis for football. What did that leave me?

“I am a black belt in taekwondo,” I said, sure that I could get a spot on their martial arts team. I could probably disable them all with a glance. I sat up straighter, my shoulders back.

Mrs. Jordan’s eyes widened. “Taekwondo? You beat people up?”

“Well, kind of,” I said, puffing up my chest with pride. Not many people would suspect tiny me to be dangerous. I liked that. “It’s more self-defense than attack strategies, but if pressed, yes, I can hurt someone. I have this amazing jump-kick combination that never fails to knock people off their feet. I also learned how to flip over someone’s kick to avoid being hit. It’s really amazing.”

I stopped when I realized Mrs. Jordan was staring at me. Yes, I was babbling. Yes, maybe I sounded a tad like Becky. But hey, how often did I get to discuss my martial arts experience with a fellow fitness enthusiast? Mrs. Jordan didn’t have an ounce of fat on her. Obviously she would understand the amazing things the human body can accomplish when pushed.

“Perfect,” she said. “Then it’s decided.” A smile spread across Mrs. Jordan’s face. It echoed on mine. Not only was I being invited to join their martial arts team, but I bet she was about to make me captain.

“I’m honored,” I said.

“Wonderful!” Mrs. Jordan clapped me on the back. “You’ll be a great addition to our cheerleading squad.”

How many circles of hell did Dante discover?

 

 

 

Kacii