Manfax: A detailed report containing information about a potential boyfriend/girlfriend’s romantic history.
What is it about this bad boy that has women clamoring to date him?
Adam Winters is like an ice-cold drink of water on a scorching day—he goes down like a champ.
Tall, built, and handy, he’s irresistible and he knows it.
After my company runs numerous Manfax reports on him for half the women in the city, I learn he’s a commitment-phobe. And did I mention he’s my best friend’s future brother-in-law?
Forced to spend time together, he lays on the charm, and I do my best to remain unimpressed.
But the more I get to know him, the harder it is to ignore our chemistry.
Even though I know he looks terrible on paper, he looks damn fine from every other angle.
Will this sexy contractor chip away at the walls around my heart, or will he hammer them to pieces?
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars
You’ve heard of Carfax, right? Well, Manfax is essentially the same service for women (or men, but mostly women) wanting to know their prospective partner’s past dating history. Brilliant. Manfax owner Roxanne rolls her eyes when she sees that her company has been paid to run a fourth report on a very handsome, quite charming, manwhore. Roxanne is quite stunned when she just a few days later meets said manwhore face to face while spending Fourth Of July weekend with her friend Danika and her boyfriend Rex (from Mantrum) at his family’s cabin. Adam, you see, is one of Rex’s brothers.
Roxanne has preconceived notions about Adam right off the bat, based on his Manfax history. She doesn’t know much personally about him, but figures he’s a commitaphobe who cycles through women monthly. And she’s not wrong. While Adam does like to date, he’d had his heart broken in the past and is protecting himself from feeling that devastation again. But he also knows that when he meets The One, he will be all in. For her part, Roxanne is also a commitaphobe. She has many walls built up, and has a hard time letting anyone into her inner circle. But the more she gets to know Adam, the more she thinks that she was wrong to not give him a fair chance. Adam is charming, sweet and thoughtful, and goes against everything she believed him to be as Manfax’s frequent flyer.
So of course, Adam is the guy to break through Roxanne’s walls, and she’s the woman who makes him want to commit. But she’s kind of hiding a secret from him, and when he finds out that he’s been investigated by Manfax, Adam is rightfully hurt, pissed and angry. I loved that it was the hero here who was vulnerable and wronged, and that Roxanne didn’t let much time go by before she groveled and set out to explain herself. But I felt that the whole reunion was rushed… and then BAM! The book was over.
I really enjoyed this story. It is low-angst and lots of fun. Roxanne is a no-BS kind of gal, and she has no issues putting Adam in his place. And the more she shoots him down, the more Adam wants to win her over. But at the end of the book, I wanted MORE from Adam and Rocky at the end. I guess there will be more of them in the other books the way we saw more of Danika and Rex, but the ending left me feeling unsatisfied.
While Danika and Rex are in this book plenty for readers of Mantrum, it is a standalone and they really are secondary characters to Adam and Roxanne’s story. I’m really hoping that Violet and Larsen have a book coming, because I want to know all his secrets! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Jacob Chance grew up in New England and still lives there today. He’s a martial artist, a football fan, a practical joker and junk food lover.
A writer of sports romcoms and romantic suspense, he plans on providing you with many more stories.
One year, 365 days—and then one knock at my door changes everything.
The Cabin, an all-new beautifully written, emotion filled romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jasinda Wilder is available now!
One year ago, I buried my husband.
One year ago, I held his hand and said goodbye.
Now I spend most of my days lost somewhere between trying to remember every smallest detail of our lives, and trying to forget it all. I fill my hours with work until I’m too exhausted to remember him, to feel anything at all.
One year, 365 days—and then one knock at my door changes everything. A letter from him, a last request, a secret will:
My dearest Nadia,
Trust me, my love. One last time, trust me. Sometimes the epilogue to one story is the beginning of another.
Enter to win an Exclusive Cabin Recovery Kit! Join Jasinda’s Reader Group during release week and enter the big Giveaway pinned at the top of the group → https://bit.ly/35pQlKR
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars
It’s been a few days since I finished The Cabin, and I still can’t form coherent enough thoughts about how FANTASTIC this emotional, raw, remarkable, heart-wrenching story is. Nadia’s tale is one of devotion and loyalty, sickness and health, death and grief, love and loss, fear of forgetting, fear of moving forward, and finally, finally, finding love again when you thought you were too broken and lonely to ever be loved again.
I don’t want to say anything else about this book, because you should go in reading it only knowing what is said in the blurb.
“Sometimes the epilogue to one story is the beginning to another.”
Wow, that tag line so perfectly sums up The Cabin. This is the kind of story that had me reading until the wee hours of the morning and then sneaking in a few more chapters on my Kindle app while cooking dinner the next day. I could not put it down. And for all of the tears I cried throughout this story, it has the most wonderful HEA.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Excerpt
1: NDA
“All right, Mr. Bell. You’re all set here, I think.”
The nurse is that peculiar, unique brand of brusque efficiency and Zen-like kindness you only find in an oncology department. She fiddles with the IV line puncturing my left arm, the off-white, veiny medical tape securing it to my forearm. Her eyes are brown, the exact shade of a chocolate Labrador’s fur. She is warm, and caring, but lurking beneath that veneer of caregiver kindness is the detached iciness of someone whose job it is to watch people die.
“It will take a couple hours for this to drip through, and then we have to monitor you for—”
“I know,” I interrupt. I open the lid of my laptop. “I’ve been through this a few times.”
She smiles. “Of course, Mr. Bell. If you need anything, just press the call button.”
I hesitate a few seconds and then say, “There is something.” Then I glance at the curtain which is not quite pulled shut.
She catches my meaning and brings the two ends of the curtain together, the metal rings rasping with a rattling ring. “What can I do for you, Mr. Bell?”
I reach into my messenger bag, sitting on the floor next to this monstrosity of a chair—a freakish, Frankensteinian thing, not quite a lounger and not quite a clinical, medical device, but something in between. It’s made from a rubbery plastic or vinyl material that squeaks at every slight movement, and is too hard and too upright to be truly comfortable, but when you kick back in it and lift the footrest, it forces you into a near-horizontal recline in an unnatural defiance of gravity.
The chair is distracting, and I hate the chair almost as much as I hate the ward, the IV, and the whole damned morbid circus.
In my bag is a thin manila folder. On the label I’ve written three letters in neat block handwriting, in black Sharpie: NDA. I withdraw a single sheet of paper, on which are two and a half paragraphs, single-spaced. It’s in tight, clear legalese, drawn up by my attorney, printed on formal, intimidating letterhead. I hand it to the nurse whose nametag, clipped to her pale green sleeve, announces her as Tiffany Snell, R.N, O.C.N.
“This is an NDA, a nondisclosure agreement.”
She allows a frown, briefly. “Okay?”
I keep my voice low, not whispering, but pitched for her ears only. “I’m here alone, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“Yes. Which is why your observation period has to be so long.”
“I know.”
I reach into my bag and pull out a pen—it’s a nice pen, hefty, metal, with a satisfying clicker, and on the side is my name: Adrian Bell, and my logo, a coat of arms with my monogram. It’s recognizable to most people, that logo; you see it on the title page of my books, on my website, and expensively animated as a production company logo during the title sequences when you watch movies made from my books. I hand her the pen, tap the NDA with it.
“This says you will not disclose to anyone that I was here at all, let alone why. I’m paying for this with cash, so there’s no insurance paperwork trail.”
She frowns again as she reads. “Why is it a secret, may I ask?”
“I have my reasons,” I say. “Whatever else must be done in the process of this infusion, I would like you to do, including observation and my eventual discharge. All right? This means that just one person has to sign this little item.” I tap the NDA again.
“And if I don’t sign it?” It’s not meant belligerently, just…a simple question.
I smile. “Tiffany—Miss Snell. Do I really need to spell this out? You know who I am. I don’t want this getting out. That’s all. I’m protecting my privacy.”
She breathes out gently—it’s not a sigh, more of a thoughtful breath. “What about your wife? Why isn’t she here?”
It takes all I have to not wince at the question. “I’m going to have to decline to answer that, Miss Snell. Can you please just sign? It just means you don’t tell anyone I was here. If coworkers ask, you simply say you can’t talk about it. Don’t make a big deal about it, just that—I can’t talk about it. That’s all.” I pause, smile again. “Would it help you to know I’m a yearly donor to this facility?”
She rolls a shoulder. “Not really. I’m just a nurse.” Another of those thoughtful out-breaths. “Mr. Bell, I’ll sign your NDA. But I have to register my thoughts with you. Hiding this is not fair.” Her warm brown eyes momentarily reveal the sadness she normally keeps hidden. “I’ve seen your file, obviously. What you’re dealing with, it’s…it’s not…”
“It doesn’t have a stellar survival rate,” I finish. “I know.”
“Hiding it from your wife, Mr. Bell—”
“Adrian.”
“It’s really, really not fair of you, Adrian. You’re not doing her any favors. I obviously don’t know a thing about your marriage, but if she loves you—”
I let out a shaky breath, cut her off. “She does, Tiffany. More than I deserve. More than…More than is, perhaps, healthy.”
“So why—”
“I have my reasons,” I say again. Now I do not smile. I frown in a way that says this conversation has to be over. “It’s not fair of me, I know. Believe me, I know. But it’s not fair that I have this. That I’m here. It’s not fair that I’m paying as much for this treatment as I am. What in your life can you list as unfair, Tiffany? A lot, I’m sure. Fair is a myth. Fair does not exist.”
She gazes at me evenly, steadily and then takes the pen from me. Signs the NDA in a nurse’s hasty scrawl. Dates it. Hands me the pen.
“Keep it.”
She lets a small smile cross her lips. “I’ve read all your books, you know. I enjoy them. They make me feel like I can believe in love again.” She gestures with the pen. “Thank you.”
“If you happen to have a copy with you, I’ll sign it for you.”
She bites a lip. “I do, actually.”
“Bring it when you come to check on me.”
She nods, hooks the pen by the clip at an angle in the V of her scrub top. Smiles at me again, and leaves.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, my mother used to tell me.
I enter the passcode on my laptop; there’s Wi-Fi here, so I could check email, but I don’t. In fact, I turn Wi-Fi off, so I won’t be distracted by the siren song of email, pull my wireless earbuds from my bag, and turn on Rostropovich via my phone.
I open my manuscript. Close my eyes, take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out slowly. Repeat four times. Pushing away, mentally, the fog of the chemo, the pinch of the IV, the continual beeping of IV machines indicating a bag is finished, the occasional static PA announcements, the squeak of sensible sneakers, and the murmur of quiet conversations.
Push it all away. Find my flow.
It’s there, under the surface. It’s always there; it’s always been there. Like Louis L’Amour said, I could sit in the middle of Sunset Boulevard with a typewriter on my knees, and once I’m in the flow, I wouldn’t notice a thing but the words on the page.
With this story I’m working on now, though, it’s harder, and it takes more effort to sink down into it, more mental gymnastics to get into the flow. I need to find the right balance, tap into the necessary emotions, while still remaining the objective storyteller.
This one is personal. More than all the other books I’ve written over my career, this one…this one requires more of me.
And I have to get it right.
I’m writing it for an audience of one. Well, two. But really, just one. Her.
My love. My Nadia.
Meet Jasinda
NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, WALL STREET JOURNAL and international bestselling author Jasinda Wilder is a Michigan native with a penchant for titillating tales about sexy men and strong women. Her bestselling titles include ALPHA, STRIPPED, WOUNDED, and the #1 Amazon and international bestseller FALLING INTO YOU. You can find her on her farm in Northern Michigan with her husband, author Jack Wilder, her six children and menagerie of animals.
Forget About Me, an all-new retro romantic comedy guaranteed to bring all the feels from Karen Grey is available now!
Ben Porter may be living the dream, but it’s not his.
His dad’s health scare might not be the ideal reason to come home for the summer, but it’s a welcome break from the stellar glitz of Ben’s life in Los Angeles. Even if modeling has him rivaling Marky Mark’s fame, posing isn’t his passion. Landing a role with a Boston Shakespeare theater brings him closer to fulfilling his dreams of being a real actor.
Facing the reason he went west in the first place? That’s another story.
Lucy Minola’s dreams were shattered seven years ago when a drunk driver smashed into her brother’s car. She knows it was her fault. So as penance, she works hard to care for her family, goes to confession faithfully, and buries all the feelings she had for the person who left when she needed him most: her brother’s best friend.
When an injured dog brings them back together, Lucy’s good-girl facade begins to crack. Women everywhere are obsessed with the rad body they see in magazines, but she’s the only one Ben seems to notice.
She can’t trust herself with the man who walked away… but can she let him go a second time?
This bittersweet romance, book two in Karen Grey’s 1980’s Boston Classics series, proves that everyone deserves a second chance in love and in life.
Forget About Me was such a fun walk down memory lane! It is a standalone in a series, and truly reads as such. But I’d love to go back and read the previous book because I’m sure it’s full of just as much 80s goodness!
It’s been a few years since exes Ben and Lucy were torn apart after her brother’s death in a car crash. Both Ben and Lucy have some guilt about that night, and rather than stick around, Ben took off and Lucy was left behind. Now, Ben has come home, and when a stray dog reunites them, will Lucy give Ben a second chance or be the one to walk away this time?
This story was so fun! I loved, loved, loved that it was set in the 80s. The references to all things 80s made me smile as much as the witty banter between Ben and Lucy made me laugh.
There are flashbacks aplenty to Ben and Lucy’s past, as well as their relationships with her brother Tony. And those scenes are perfectly woven together with the fabric of the present-day happenings. (Well, the 80s present day happenings!)
Forget About Me is the first book I’ve read by Karen Grey, and I quite enjoyed it! It is lighthearted and fun, and hits all the marks for a quality second-chance romance. I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Excerpt
“Good Girls Don’t” – The Knack Lucy’s Copacetic Shagadelic Mixtape, Song #6
LUCY
Saturday morning, it’s hot and sticky for August. By the time I get to church, every crease of my dress is damp and my stocking-encased legs feel like sausages, so the cool and dark of the confessional is welcome. I kneel and make the sign of the cross just as the screen slides open and Father Signorelli says the usual greeting—in Latin, even though he’s supposed to have switched to the post-Vatican II form. I’m glad our church still does things the traditional way. When I went to the Newman Center the few months I was at UMass, getting general absolution didn’t feel like enough, but the alternative they offered—sitting face to face to confess to a priest—was too embarrassing. I dab my brow with a tissue before beginning. “Bless me father, for I have sinned. It’s been two weeks since my last confession. These are my sins. I snapped at a coworker because she asked me some irritating questions, and I yelled at my brothers for leaving their dishes in the sink. I have been uncharitable toward an old, um… friend because I’m still angry at him for things he did a long time ago. I talked him into buying things he didn’t need to because… because I wanted him to suffer.” “Hmm. Those are unbecoming behaviors in a young woman.” “Yes, Father. For these and any other sins that I cannot remember, I humbly ask pardon of God and penance and absolution of thee, Father.” “Do your rosary and say five Our Fathers for your penance.” I bow my head, say the Act of Contrition and do my best to focus as Father prays for my forgiveness. When I step out of the box and into the incense-laden air, the weight of my sins doesn’t lift from my shoulders like it usually does, probably because I neglected to confess the many, many lustful thoughts that’ve set up camp in my nether regions. I guess you could argue that I’m preventing harm by omitting those sins because if Father Signorelli heard what I’ve been up to alone in my bed at night, he’d surely have a stroke.
When I return from my lunch break on Monday, I’m greeted by Cindy in full-on puppy mode. “Oh my god, that Ben Porter left you a message, Lucy!” Stowing my purse in my locker, I spend more time than necessary changing back into my scrub top. I spent the break running errands—picking up a prescription for my dad and stocking up on toiletries for the family while I was at the pharmacy. I might’ve also picked up a few magazines which might just happen to contain a few revealing photos of Ben. It isn’t a sin to just look, right? When I close my locker door, Cindy’s right there on the other side. “Isn’t that exciting?” “Yes?” A balloon of hope floats up. I haul it back down to earth. No need to get all excited. He probably just has another question about the dog. I scan the corkboard where notes are usually pinned up. “Where’s the message?” She finally stops bouncing up and down. “He didn’t call. He came in while you were out and I got to talk to him.” She whispers this like it’s the most exciting thing to have happened in weeks. Maybe it is. Although watching a dog yak up an entire package of tube socks last week was pretty entertaining. “Oh. Okay.” I keep my tone cool, with some effort. “What was the message?” “He asked me to ask you if you’d train his dog so it can be in a play! I wish I knew about animal training! How did you learn?” She grabs my forearm. “Do you need an assistant?” Not sure where to start, I just nod. And then shake my head no. By the time my head’s circling, I realize something. “Did he leave a number?” Cindy narrows her eyes. “Don’t you have his number?” I don’t want to think about all this right now, so I exit the breakroom. “I guess I can get it from his chart if it’s not the same.” She’s at my heels, nipping away with her questions. “Same what?” “Um. Same everything. Number, house. Because he’s like… famous now?” “Are you sure you really grew up with him?” “Yep. I’m sure I did.” Her smooth brow crinkles. “No offense, but you seem a lot older than him.” “He’s three years older than me, Cindy.” “So, he’s like mid-thirties?” I stifle a sigh. Cindy’s only eighteen, so everyone is old to her. “Just FYI, Cindy, I’m twenty-five.” “Not even! I thought you were way older than that.” My brows go up as I stare her down. “I mean, like, in a good way. Like you majorly have your shit together.” “Uh-huh.” Three bells sound, indicating that an owner is in for a pickup. I’ll take any excuse to escape from the interrogation, so I press the button indicating that I’ll grab the post-surgical cat. “I’m not sure I’ll have time, anyway.” She follows me. “But you were saying you were trying to save money for that certification course. If he’s a rich model, charge him extra.” She’s driving me crazy, but she has a point. How much money would it be worth to risk further stirring up the grief I thought I’d buried years ago? Opening the cage to ease out a still groggy but now stitched-up and gonad-free cat, I whisper, “Hey, buddy, time to go home.” Cindy, still at my elbow, closes the cage. “When was the last time you saw him anyway? I mean, before now.” “Seven years ago.” Until last week, the last time I saw him was at my brother’s wake. But she doesn’t need to know that. “Things… ended badly.” Talk about understatement of the year. “Seven years! Lucy, jeez. Seven years ago, I was in elementary school! That’s forever ago. Forgive and forget already.” A single bell sounds, letting us know that a new client needs to be moved to an exam room. “Do you still want the cat discharge, or whatever’s behind door number one?” I hand over the cat. “I’ll take the new patient.” I don’t have any ex-boyfriends left to surprise me, so I walk briskly to the waiting room, eager for a distraction. Whether it’s an engorged tick to be removed or a puppy needing its shots or a busted-up tomcat, taking care of an animal is always preferable to listening to my inner monologue. Deciding what to do about Ben will have to wait.
Meet Karen
Karen Grey (also known as Karen White and K.E. White) has had several essays published, in Salt Magazine and the Nevertheless We Persisted collections (one an Audies Finalist and the other a SOVAs finalist), and a short story in the collection Vintage Love Stories. Her first romance novel was a winner of the NJ Romance Writers’ Put Your Heart in a Book contest and Hearts Through History’s Romance Through the Ages contest in the Modern History category and won second place in the GA Romance Writers’ Maggie Award. The first book in her 1980’s era romance series Boston Classics, What I’m Looking For releases June 23, 2020.
Is it love or lust? And what happens when a mill girl breaks the cardinal rule?
Men beg to touch her body. Yet, I’m the one grasping onto Cece time and time again.
I tried to keep them away for her safety and to help her reach the goal of a better life. We were careful to make sure what happened between us remained unnoticed. But when our impossible secret gets out, I’m the one labeled an opportunistic creep.
I’m a simple man. All I want is a chance. Though, it’s uncertain Cece’s ready to defend the love we share. It’s obvious now our silence was golden… And there’s more than a sliver of truth that I’ll never be the one for her. —Dusty
Sliver of Truth is an amazing story of wanting more, being afraid to take a leap and doing it anyway, and learning that there is so much more to a person than meets the eye.
Stripper CeCe and handyman Dusty have been having a secret affair for a year, and now that she’s about to leave the club where they both work, he wants more from their relationship. Namely, no longer being secret friends with benefits. When Dusty demands to be more than a dirty little secret, and their friends find out about their relationship and claim he’s being a creep, will CeCe step up and defend the love they share or watch him walk away?
I thought this story was well-written and flowed nicely. There are some raw, emotional moments, as well as lots of sweet ones. And some steamy ones. Both CeCe and Dusty have some insecurity issues to work through. And there is a lot of disability bias in this story: Dusty speaks with a stutter as a result of an accident. People think he’s stupid and that is so far from the truth. I thought that Jody Kaye handled that aspect of this story wonderfully. It really will make you stop and think about how you treat others.
So why am I only ranking this 3.5 stars? It is a standalone, but I feel like there should have been a note somewhere that the series should be read in order. I felt like I was starting the book in the middle of a chapter, and there were all these other characters hanging around that are clearly part of the same social circle, but there was little to no explanation as to who they are and what their relationship is to one another. So I felt quite lost regarding the backstory and it was a feeling I couldn’t shake throughout the book. Unfortunately, I felt like that was holding me back from really shipping CeCe and Dusty as a couple.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Meet Jody Kaye
Jody’s husband asked what she’d been doing all day. After five years she finally confessed, “When no one is around, I write.”
Okay, it was more like it was more like a bunch of stammering and trying to get out of saying a thing. Jody’s a writer. You want it pretty. Let’s compromise.
“Just finish one,” he said, challenging her to complete a story and share it.
Little did he know that those words of encouragement meant they’d return from a family vacation with a wild and defiant set of quintuplets stumbling their way through life. Wasn’t raising their three sons enough?
A native of nowhere, Jody settled in New England for 17 years before agreeing to uproot her brood of boys and move to North Carolina. She spends most of her time reading, writing, and hoping that her ravenous children haven’t eaten all the ingredients before she cooks dinner.
The heavy burden of caring for the well-being of another life shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of a teenager. But I never complained or shied away from it.
I had this friend. He needed me.
As the years went by, I continued to find myself drawn to those with pain in their eyes, wanting to ease their anguish with a smile or a joke.
That was what first lured me to Journey.
I quickly learned she bristled at even the suggestion of her vulnerability. We may be like oil and water, but I revel in fighting for her attention. This fiery beauty is worth the wait, and I’m playing the long game.
She claims not to be the commitment type, but I see hope and refuse to give up. Can I convince her we belong together? Or will I be the one left hiding my own pain behind a smile?
From USA Today Bestselling Author, Shari J. Ryan, comes the highly-anticipated conclusion to The Barrel House Series!
The Barrel House series comes to an nice close with Bourbon Fireball. I definitely thought Brody was the more complex of the brothers, and reading this story from his POV was definitely interesting while being entertaining.
Shari Ryan does a great job of not just rehashing a previous book now told from the hero’s POV, but adds great content to it to fill out the story even more. Brody is walking around with some major guilt, and we get a great peek inside his head when it comes to that. We knew his daughter Hannah was a preteen handful, and now we get more to their relationship. And Journey…. well, the guy is head over heels for her and we get inside his head as he sets out to woo her.
A job well done! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Shari J. Ryan is USA Today bestselling author. She lives in Massachusetts with her wicked awesome husband, and two wild sons who fill her life with non-stop comedy.
With a life full of love, writing, drawing, TV binging, reading, and Starbucks, Shari is living her best life.
Growing up, Jude McCallister was the bane of my existence.
My best friend. Fiercest ally. The most annoying boy in the world.
At eighteen, the boy I loved to hate became the man I couldn’t live without.
We were young. Madly in love. Invincible.
Strong enough to weather any storm.
Cocky enough to believe that no amount of time or distance could destroy us.
When Jude finally returned home from overseas, it should have been cause for celebration. But the man I’d fallen in love with was gone, and in his place was someone I no longer recognized.
𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦.
Now, after six long years he’s back. Only my heart … it doesn’t beat just for him anymore.
To celebrate the cover reveal of When the Stars Fall, Emery Rose is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card! Head to her Facebook page to enter: https://www.facebook.com/EmeryRoseAuthor/
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars
I knew from the prologue that When The Stars Fall was going to an emotional rollercoaster, the kind of epic romance that rips your heart out and then puts it back together again. Well, Jude and Lila’s story did not disappoint!
When The Stars Fall is broken into three parts: Jude and Lila’s childhood, their early 20s after he’s been discharged from the Marines, and then when they are 30. Each part is so well-written, perfectly laying out the full arc of this couple’s relationship as they go from best friends at 9 to hating one another in high school because they are actually in love with one another, finally getting together, being torn apart and finding their way back to each other once more. Part II was particularly hard to read, as Jude suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury after being in Afghanistan. He was so lost upon returning home, overcome with guilt about what he did and saw, the death of his best friend in battle, not understanding why he couldn’t feel happy and normal again. Lila, meanwhile, was so desperate to help him, get him help, and angry that she wasn’t enough for him to want to stick around for. My heart broke for both of them. Their pain was palpable and so heartbreaking.
Without giving too much away, the family drama in Part III added another fabulous layer to this story as Jude and Brody butted heads over and over again. Jude really overcame a lot and changed so much between the second and third acts, and he really put in a lot of work to fix things with not only Lila but his family as well.
“What happens when the stars fall, Jude?” “I’ll put them back in the sky for you.”
Presumably, this is the first book in a series about the McCallister brothers. There were a lot of nuggets dropped about Brody and his tumultuous past, and I hope it’s not a long wait for his book! I did feel that the subplot about Jude’s business with his military buddies was just kind of dropped, but hopefully that will come back into play in subsequent books.
Overall, When The Stars Fall is a fantastic, fantastic, angsty second-chance romance!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emery Rose has been known to indulge in good red wine, strong coffee, and a healthy dose of sarcasm. When she’s not working on her latest project, you can find her binge-watching Netflix, trotting the globe in search of sunshine, or immersed in a good book. A former New Yorker, she currently resides in London with her two beautiful daughters and one grumpy but lovable Border Terrier.
Secretly hooking up with the team captain’s sister was a bad idea.
In my defense, the first time I saw her I didn’t know who she was.
Kind, gorgeous, a little naïve. Ginny brightened my world from day one.
I knew I was no good for her. She was just out of a relationship and I had a reputation for having a new girl in my bed every weekend.
I tried to do the right thing. Honest.
I’m the one who insisted we should be just friends.
That lasted about as long as you’d expect.
But Ginny? She’s the best–best friend, best everything.
So yeah, hooking up with the team captain’s sister wasn’t a great idea.
Would I do it again?
In a heartbeat.
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars
I remember when Heath was a cranky, moody high schooler during the Smart Jocks series. Now he is all grown up and quite the charmer!
Secret Puck is a charming, sweet friends to lovers romcom. Heath and Ginny have great chemistry right from the start, even though she is determined to keep him in the friend zone at first. But eventually, it’s clear that they both want much more than friends. So they begin sneaking around to keep their relationship from her brother, Adam, who is Heath’s hockey team captain and roommate, who had asked Heath to keep an eye on Ginny.
Secret Puck is a low-angst college romance with great characters and witty banter. I love Rebecca Jenshak’s sports romances! It was great to see Nathan and Chloe from The Fake, as they finally get married in Heath’s book. There are some appearances from the other Smart Jocks, but Rebecca Jenshak has also introduced us to a new crew of guys at Valley U in Heath’s friends, and I can’t wait to see where their stories take them!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
The author is doing a signed paperback/swag giveaway on her Facebook and Instagram pages. Stop by to enter!
Rebecca Jenshak is a self-proclaimed margarita addict, college basketball fanatic, and Hallmark channel devotee. A Midwest native transplanted to the desert, she likes being outdoors (drinking on patios) and singing (in the shower) when she isn’t writing books about hot guys and the girls who love them.
The only thing that gets Charlotte Prescott through the day is the haunting eyes and magnetic voice that uplifts her in the subway station every evening.
All Montgomery Logan wants to do is ease the pain of the woman he feels a strange, protective draw to. He serenades her from afar, knowing their worlds will never intersect.
Until the day they do.
And everything changes.
Will their differences make them stronger or tear them apart?
“Music to soothe the soul…A connection that was felt by both, A smile that set MY heart tingling. <3” Chele, Goodreads
“I definitely would like to see made into full length stories because they were so engaging from Sydney Logan, Melanie Moreland, and Jo Richardson. ” Shannon, Goodreads
I am a sucker for these kinds of beautiful, emotional stories. And Heart Strings, well, pulled on my heart strings. Lottie and Logan were a beautiful couple. She is so beaten down and sad, and Logan makes it his mission to bring love and light to her life. He is patient and kind, and the perfect kind of book boyfriend.
There is a beautiful build to their relationship as they go from strangers to acquaintances to friends and eventually romantic partners.
Heart Strings is romance gold in its purest form. There is nothing Logan won’t do for Lottie, and it is full of so many Swoony moments as he proves to her that she is worth everything to him.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
NYT/WSJ/USAT international bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat, Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them.
While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys traveling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip.
Melanie loves stories, especially paired with a good wine, and enjoys skydiving (free falling over a fleck of dust) extreme snowboarding (falling down stairs) and piloting her own helicopter (tripping over her own feet.) She’s learned happily ever afters, even bumpy ones, are all in how you tell the story.
Melanie is represented by Flavia Viotti at Bookcase Literary Agency. For any questions regarding subsidiary or translation rights please contact her at flavia@bookcaseagency.com
From USA Bestseller Natasha Madison comes a brand new Hockey series The Only One.
Miller
They called me the pretty boy on and off the ice. Hockey’s most eligible bachelor.
When my teammate asked me to donate one date to his charity, I figured why not. Worst case, I’d spend the night with a fan. Best-case scenario, she would be hot. What I wasn’t expecting was for my dream girl to be the highest bidder.
For years, she brushed me off, and now, I finally had a chance to take her out and show her who I really was.
With only one shot at this, I really hoped I didn’t mess it up.
Layla
At the top of my career, I was riding the wave of my sports talk show having the best rating on the radio.
I also made it a rule to never date any sports players.
It was my one rule, and I was sticking to it until I bid on the only man who gets under my skin.
All it takes is one touch, one night, one kiss, and only one chance.
Only One Chance was rather unexpected! I really loved Layla and Miller’s story. The push and pull between these characters was great, and any book that has me crying during the makeup is a 5-Star read for me!
Miller has been chasing after Layla for four years, but she refuses to give him a chance. He’s a big flirt, and she wants nothing to do with a guy who won’t treat her with the respect she deserves. After a drunken bid on Miller in a bachelor auction and trying to pawn him off on Grandma Nancy, Layla reluctantly agrees to go out with Miller herself. And she is treated to the most romantic night of her life.
I loved how nervous Miller was when he finally got Layla to agree to go out with him. And he really puts in the effort to woo her, despite her shooting him down every step of the way. His flirtatious nature with his fans is a speedbump in their relationship that they get over rather quickly, but then there is a whopper of a plot twist in regards to Layla’s past that I wasn’t expecting. That hurdle is not so easy for them to overcome — but the revelation explains so much about why Layla was hesitant to get involved with Miller, and the things he says out of hurt and anger just tear them both up.
While Miller felt like it was a lie of omission, Layla was scared to tell him her secret. Once he gets his head on straight, can he convince her to give him one more chance?
That teaser at the end for Manning’s book… AGH! I can’t wait! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Meet Natasha Madison
When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…
Blurb: I’m the pastor’s son. He’s the star quarterback for a small Kentucky high school. While the town worships him, I pray for God to take my life. He makes my life a living hell by making me his victim. This perverse game we play could end us both.
How can something that feels so right be so wrong? The price if the truth is discovered is death, but I can’t stop.
Neither can he. No one can know. Can I risk it? Is Roman King worth dying for?
**This story is a m/m bully romance including dubious consent, assault, talk of suicide, and is intended for readers 18+. Please proceed with caution.**
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 3.5 Stars
There was a lot of buzz in the book world leading up to the release of Bully King. And the book was okay. I didn’t love it, but it was pretty good.
This M/M romance takes place in the Bible Belt of Tennessee, between a high school football quarterback, Roman, and the son of the new preacher in town, Jonah. Roman at first is interested in Jonah’s sister, Mary, and she eventually turns out to legit be the beard in the relationship as the cover girlfriend. As the book starts, Jonah knows he’s gay, but won’t come out because his own father is a God-fearing man who says homosexuality is wrong. Roman, meanwhile, seems to have a past as a manwhore, but all of a sudden can’t get the new kid in town out of his mind. But as he starts to fall for Jonah, Roman won’t come out because he’s revered as a football God, and a gay couple had previously been beaten to death by the rednecks in town.
I really tried to look past all of the things that made Roman and Jonah’s relationship so forbidden. I understood why it was, but I felt like there was just way more than necessary with the townspeople being against gay men and Dad’s religious diatribes. Looking past that, I tried to focus on Roman and Jonah’s relationship… and there wasn’t much of one. Other than the physical aspect — which was dubious consent most of the time and quite forceful — there wasn’t much of a personal relationship. I knew going in that there was dubious consent, and that didn’t even bother me. I just didn’t feel like I got enough out of Jonah and Roman as people spending time together and building a relationship to then ship them as a couple. I thought Roman was a dick unnecessarily a lot of the time — and I really hated him after the situation with his best friend Taylor. Like, WTF?? And it wasn’t even Roman being a jerk because his dad beats him. Roman was just a jerk. I thought he was an incredible coward, and didn’t find much redeeming about him. I just wanted MORE from him as a character.
There are also several inconsistencies in the timeline. One chapter, Jonah, Mary and Roman are at the movies, then Roman says it’s been a few days, and then Jonah and Mary’s mom is asking them how the movie was “yesterday”. Hopefully this was fixed in the final version, but there were several inconsistencies like that which made me shake my head.
In the end, I thought that this story had a great base to it, but it could have been executed better. I’m really interested in Taylor’s story, and whether he finds love again. Would love to see him get a book of his own. I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
About the Author: Sarcastic and snarky, I love to laugh and read dark fucked up shit. I write about tortured pasts and hot sex, a happily ever after that has to be worked for. My stories tend to be a little dark but with some comic relief, typically in the form of sarcasm.
I like to dabble in a little of everything when it comes to stories. Romantic suspense, MM, a bit of erotica, with plans for Greek retellings, maybe some fairytale retellings, and some shifters. I write broken people who fight for their happily ever after, in all the many forms it takes.
I married a sexy man in uniform who let me spawn and am now raising a mutinous army of hell raisers that I created myself, all while he defends our country. I drink too much coffee and am sexually frustrated for your freedom. If you see me online, I’m probably sitting in a closet, hiding from my kids.
I have a ridiculous addiction to Archer, Sherlock, Supernatural, and The Big Bang Theory. I live my life spewing TV quotes and sarcasm. I’m a self confessed ass, not easily offended, and I love to laugh, almost as much as I love sleep. My laundry is rarely folded or put away and I have probably only showered once this week.
I hate schedules and planning, I have calendars, planners, and my phone yet can’t remember anything. Somehow, I’ve managed to keep 3 kids alive but I really need to become an adultier adult.
Manfax: A detailed report containing information about a potential boyfriend/girlfriend’s romantic history.
