30/09/2020

Relentless Habit | Book Tour | Karen Renee | Review and Giveaway Included


Relentless Habit
by Karen Renee
(O-Town, #1)
Publication date: September 1st 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Cecilia
I moved to Orlando for a fresh start.
Nobody could know my secret.
Catching the attention of the hottest DJ in all of Orlando wasn’t in the plan.
He’s got moves, and they’re not just good. They are good.
Like the beats he spins in the booth, I fall fast for him and his crazy family.
When he finds out about my past, it won’t just break my heart but also crush my soul.

Brock
The third time I saw her at a crowded club, I had to have her.
After our first kiss, I knew she was a habit I would never want to break.
Knowing what she hid from me reinforces what I’ve known for so long. Women cannot be trusted.
Even knowing the worst, I can’t stay away from her.
But when push comes to shove, will I be able to keep her safe?



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AUTHOR BIO
Karen Renee is the award-winning author of the Riot MC series, the Beta series, and upcoming O-Town series. She has been writing since she was a teen, but has only recently brought her dream to life. Karen spent years working in the wonderful world of advertising, banking, and local television media research. She is a Jacksonville native, as well as a proud wife and mother. When she’s not at the soccer field or cooking, you can find her at her local library, the grocery store, in her car jamming out to some tunes, or hibernating while she writes and/or reads books.

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*I Received this ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review*

This book is the first in the new O-Town series and it is a series that, in my view, starts very well.
Karen Renee, the author, brings us two main characters full of trauma and suffering in their hearts and in their pasts, Cecilia and Brock.
She ran away from an ill-advised life she was leading, full of bad addictions and bad habits. In her opinion, you did what you could to survive, including some things that she is not proud of. It's a secret that she is planning on not telling anyone, until someone that knows her story mingles in the way and she has no other option than to reveal the truth.
Brock, for his turn, is a DJ full of talent and good dance moves who also has his secrets buried in his broken heart and in his past and, when he sees Cecilia, he immediately realizes that she has to be his, whatever the cost. And how it will cost! Cecilia is fully aware that she is broken for any man who is willing to forgive all the bad additions she has had in the past and struggles with daily and makes it very hard to Brock to enter in her life and in her heart. However, Brock, manages to do exactly that and more, and makes her have a glimmer of hope that she deserves to be happy with someone like him, despite her blemished past.
In my opinion, they are two people who really needed each other to heal their wounds and build a more sunny and smiling future. Of course, the past cannot be erased only with love, if it can be erased at all, but it can be forgotten and overcome. Time heals wounds and love helps a lot to find our place in the world and in someone else's heart. 
We can't go anywhere alone and Cecilia needs Brock as much as he needs her, although for slightly different reasons.
I really liked the characters in this book and I hope to see them in the next volumes of the series.

29/09/2020

Release Blitz | Lost on The Way | Isabel Jolie | Review and Giveaway Included

Lost on the Way
by Isabel Jolie
Publication date: September 21st 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis
They were friends—just friends. Now they’re something else entirely…

Jason
Maggie was my best friend’s girl. When he died… I don’t have the words. Indescribable pain.
But we healed. Together. She got me through my illness and became my friend, my confidant, my family. She’s everything to me.
And I ruined it all last night.
One drunken night. That’s all it took. Now I’m lost.
I want her with everything I am, everything I have, but she can’t be mine. She deserves someone with better odds than the doctors gave me.
Now, if I can’t figure out how to go back to the way things were, I’ll lose the most important relationship I have. The only one that truly matters.

Maggie
Last night was the best—and worst—night of my life.
He’s made it clear, more than once, that he only wants a friendship.
Then last night happened.
And now he knows how I feel.
He’s my best friend. I love him —mind, body, and soul. We have a visceral connection others can’t understand.
The problem? He’ll always see me as his best friend’s girlfriend, no matter how many years pass.
I can’t lose him. If he wants to stay in the friend zone, I’ll need to somehow accept that and move on. I know it’s true.
But convincing my heart…well, that’s another story entirely.

One night of excess tequila changes everything for two codependent best friends. Will they lose all they had, or can they find their way to something even better?

  

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AUTHOR BIO
Isabel Jolie, or Izzy to her friends, is an Amazon bestselling indie author with an unquenchable thirst for a good, sexy love story. Izzy’s heart pumps faster for stories with strong heroines, down-to-earth realism, and an unexpected twist.

When she’s not writing or reading, she can often be found with a glass of wine in hand relaxing with her husband, daughters, and good friends lakeside.

Izzy fills her Instagram feed with funnies, inspirational “brain candy”, and anything that meshes with her mood of the day. #mood.

Author links


*I received this copy in exchange for an honest opinion*

I have to be very sincere and admit that this story, in the beginning, did not seem to bring anything new. However, as I read and understood the main characters, Jason and Maggie, I was also captivated by the story that they told us.
The story between two best friends, united for more than twelve years by a common loss, Adam.
Adam was Maggie's boyfriend and one of Jason's best friends. They met in a somewhat awkward way since they both had cancer and both fled off the same meeting to support those who suffered from the disease. Even earlier, Jason had met Maggie, although he didn't know when he would see her again. When he found out that she was the girlfriend of his most recent friend, it seems to me that he was a little disappointed and upset about his own luck.
When Adam dies, Jason feels guilty. He felt what we now call "survivor's guilt". It seemed to him that, Adam, having parents who loved him and a girlfriend like Maggie, deserved more to have survived than he, who had nothing and nobody, not even his parents.
It turns out that, over the years, Jason and Maggie become inseparable and everyone around them where just waiting for the time when both he and she would admit that they are together, because that's all that's missing.
Honestly, for those who had such a sincere and strong friendship like them, it should be paramount to put their feelings for each other, without fear. If Maggie is absolutely sure that he is the love of her life, Jason, in turn, hides behind the fact that she was Adam's girlfriend and that his cancer can come back and he will not be able to give her the life that she wants.
It will take a lot of willpower and a lot of resilience (and patience) on Maggie's part to overcome Jason's resistance and make him realize that in life not everything is destined, nor that everything is programmed, even if it is not the health problem that he had and that he will always have to deal with, if it has to be.

Novidade Saída de Emergência | Positivo | Camryn Garret

No passado dia 25 de Setembro, Positivo de Camryn Garret foi publicado em Portugal pela mão da Saída de Emergência.

A história inspiradora de uma adolescente seropositiva que tem de enfrentar medos e a aceitação radical de si mesma quando experiencia a paixão e o desejo pela primeira vez. Um livro que aborda os temas da sexualidade, da SIDA, da discriminação e das principais dúvidas da fase da adolescência.

Simone está a começar do zero numa nova escola e desta vez as coisas serão diferentes. Está a fazer bons amigos e a escrever uma peça para Miles, o rapaz que a faz derreter sempre que o vê. A coisa que menos deseja é que se saiba que ela é seropositiva, porque da última vez... Bem, da última vez as coisas ficaram feias.

Manter a sua carga viral sob controlo é fácil, mas preservar o segredo do seu diagnóstico não é tão simples. À medida que Simone e Miles começam a avançar na sua relação – com beijos tímidos a evoluir para algo mais –, ela sente uma inquietação que é mais do que borboletas na barriga. Ela sabe que tem de lhe contar que é seropositiva, mas está apavorada com a forma como ele poderá reagir. Até que encontra um bilhete anónimo no seu cacifo: Sei que tens VIH. Tens até ao Dia de Ação de Graças para deixar o Miles. Ou toda a gente vai ficar a saber.

O primeiro instinto de Simone é proteger o seu segredo a todo o custo, mas quando vai descobrindo os medos e preconceitos na sua comunidade, começa a perguntar-se se a única forma de os superar não será enfrentando os inimigos de cabeça erguida...

Camryn Garrett começou a escrever para a revista Time com 13 anos, e escreve desde então também para o Huffington Post e para a Rookie Magazine.

28/09/2020

Novidade Saída de Emergência | Rosa Branca | Glen Cook

A Rosa Branca de Glen Cook. O lado mais realista, obscuro e violento da fantasia foi publicado, pela mão da Saída de Emergência no passado dia 25 de Setembro.

 
A Companhia Negra esteve à beira da ruína depois de fugir de Zimbro e da Senhora, a terrível feiticeira que espalhou a sua maldade pelo mundo. Agora, a partir de uma base secreta na Planície do Medo, onde até a Senhora hesita em ir, o grupo de mercenários procura tornar vitoriosa a Rosa Branca.
Porém, uma grande ameaça paira sobre os dois lados do conflito: o Dominador, o marido da Senhora, pode estar a planear uma tentativa de se libertar do seu túmulo, e, se o conseguir, todas as grandes batalhas que já foram travadas parecerão meras escaramuças. Diante de um inimigo em comum, é necessário tomar decisões inesperadas que testarão as lealdades e decidirão o destino do conflito.

24/09/2020

Cover Reveal | Defy You | Tracy Lorraine | Give Me Books Promotions



Title: Defy You 
Series: Rebel Ink #3 
Author: Tracy Lorraine 
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Photo: Wander Aguiar
Model: Zack Salaun 
Release Date: October 8, 2020 

BLURB
I hated her defiance... 
But it made me want her even more. 
Her brother was my friend... and my boss. She was off-limits. 
Kassie Fox. 
From the first moment she looked in my direction, I knew she would be mine. 
It's impossible to stay away. 
I'm breaking all the rules... and I’m shattering the golden one I live by. 
Never trust a woman. Ever. 
The more she pushes, the more I pull. We're the same. I know what she needs. 
And I'm about to prove that she can trust one man. Her man. 
Me.

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AUTHOR BIO
Tracy Lorraine is a M/F and M/M contemporary romance author. Tracy recently-ish turned thirty and lives in a cute Cotswold village in England with her husband, daughter and lovable but slightly crazy dog. Having always been a bookaholic with her head stuck in her Kindle Tracy decided to try her hand at a story idea she dreamt up and hasn’t looked back since.

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23/09/2020

Release Blitz | Crashing Hearts | Emily Bowie | Give Me Books Promotions | Review and Giveway Included


Title: Crashing Hearts
Series: Oakport Beach #1
Author: Emily Bowie
Genre: Small-Town Romantic Comedy

Release Date
September 23, 2020

BLURB
Crash Jennings is gorgeous, unexpectedly charming and around every corner I turn. 
Just what I need to shake off my misfortune. Besides, what’s the harm in having a summer fling? They’re short, sweet and over before the leaves change.
Until, I learn he’s my new boss. 
Suddenly, the uncomplicated, is very complicated, and when trouble hits, I’m too far gone to protect my heart.

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99c for a limited time!
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Releasing December 9
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AUTHOR BIO
Emily Bowie is from a small town in Western Canada. She has been making characters come to life through her writing since she was old enough to put her thoughts on paper. She loves her white wine cold, her heels red, and her books spicy. 
She married her high school sweetheart and they have two amazing children. 
She is the author to the Bennett Brothers Series. 
Recklessly Mine, Recklessly Forbidden, & Recklessly Devoted. 
When she is not writing she can be found reading a good book, making digital scrapbooks and being physically active—whether it is at the gym, going for a walk, or playing /keep up with her children.

AUTHOR LINKS



Although I didn't give this book more stars, I have to say that, after reading some less good reviews, I really enjoyed meeting Crash and Piper.
He, a young entrepreneur with a huge heart, who just wants to take care of his little and needy Aunt Millie. For that, nothing better than hiring, for a month, a qualified nurse to handle the matter. Piper is the nurse who, after having her heart broken by a bad relationship with a married man, which she did not know at all, and having lost her job, heads for a season in a small town by the beach to try a brand new start again.

From the time they met, you could see that there was going to be a lot of sparks between them. If he gives the impression that he is a playboy who has many different women when and how he wants, she gives the impression that she is running away from something or someone. Which is not exactly a lie, since she is really running away ... from her recent past. I think that when she took the job as a nurse for sweet Aunt Millie, she had no idea what was really waiting for her and I found it delightful how the author invented a completely unexpected Aunt Millie and how she set things on fire between Crash and Piper .
I think that both deserved this opportunity to have a bright future full of passion and love.

22/09/2020

Book Tour | The Ice In Our Hearts | BC Powell | Review and Giveway Included


Book details

The Ice in Our Hearts
by BC Powell
Publication date: August 20th 2020
Genres: Romance, Sports, Young Adult


Bryce is a snowboarding sensation, a cocky teenager from California with a giant chip on his shoulder called Type 1 diabetes. He competes because he has something to prove.
Daria is a rising star in figure skating, a withdrawn teen from Russia with a tragic past. She competes to provide her family with a better life.
Primed to overthrow archrivals who dominate their sports, they’re both headed to the Winter Olympics. But soon after arriving at the Games, a flurry of ill-timed setbacks threatens to shatter their dreams.
When two teens from halfway around the world meet, they discover an unlikely but undeniable connection. As they gear up for their final shots at medals, they help each other realize the greatest barrier to the top of the podium might be hiding inside their minds.
Take a breathtaking ride with Bryce and Daria as they find true understanding, try to overcome the bitterness of their pasts, and share a romance more meaningful than winning gold.

Written by the parent of a child with Type 1 diabetes.

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BC Powell is a fantasy author from Los Angeles, CA. Described as “a stunning fantasy adventure,” “incredibly original,” and “a wild ride,” his debut science fiction fantasy novel “Krymzyn” was published in October, 2014. “The Infinite Expanse”, the highly anticipated second book in “The Journals of Krymzyn” series, was released in March, 2015.

Powell has a diverse background, having held several creative positions in the entertainment industry, including an executive role at ABC-TV, but writing fiction has been his lifelong passion. “The Journals of Krymzyn” represents, in his words, “finally finding the amazing story I want to tell with characters who are able to bring the story to life.”

He dual majored in journalism and philosophy at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. When he’s not writing, he can often be found hiking the hills of Southern California, daydreaming on the beach, or ocean kayaking. He credits his three sons, two currently in college and one in high school, as his inspiration for writing in the new adult genre.

Author links

*I received a Reading Copy copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really have to say that I liked this book very much. I also have to admit that sometimes it was hard for me to picture all the pro movements that Bryce and Daria performed through the author's descriptions. Many technical names of those who clearly understand a lot about both sports that are the focus and life of these two fantastic teenagers.
Daria, a teenager of only fifteen, a professional figure skater, lives in Russia and Bryce of seventeen, a snowboard professional, in the United States of America. Even though he is half Russian, on the part of his mother.
There was nothing to predict that these two teenagers, separated by half the world, could be half of each other. She is a shy girl but full of talent and strength. She has a short past, but already marked by the pain of loss and the suffering she shares with her mother because they no longer have the person they loved most with them. He, although not guilty, deals with a terrible illness, which prevents him from living a normal life, like any teenager his age. You have Type 1 Diabetes and daily, you have to be discerning and careful to always be with the regulated and perfect levels. For a young man of only seventeen, it is not easy to have to deal with such a task that implies so much responsibility and that ends up taking away half the joy of living and practicing the sport he loves so much.
However, none of this prevented him from becoming a professional and being asked to go to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Daria is also one of those selected to represent her country and from there until they met and started to live their days in that country of the East, always getting to know each other and learning how to overcome all their ghosts and traumas that prevents them from being more and better both in their personal lives and in the sports they chose to practice.
They are two lovely and mature young people for their age and together they are absolutely perfect. One would expect them to think that, after the Olympic games, the falling in love would gradually disappear, but on the contrary, the love of these two characters was born to last throughout the years that they were going to be forced to spend apart.
I loved all the characters and the way the author gave us, I believe, a small picture of what it's like to live with the problem that Bryce has and how, even so, we have to be grateful to be alive and to be able to love and be loved, no only for our romantic person, but also for our family and friends.

I recommend :)

18/09/2020

Release Blitz | Review | He Owns My Heart | Evie Drae | Giveaway Included



He Owns My Heart
by Evie Drae
(Owned Heart, Body, & Soul #1)
Publication date: August 11th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

2019 Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® Finalist in Contemporary Romance
2018 Romance Writers of America® Heart-to-Heart 1st Place Winner in Erotic Romance
2018 Romance Writers of America® Gateway to the Best 2nd Place Winner in Single Title/Contemporary Series

Blurb 
Only true love can free a captive heart.

Landon Jenks, retired four-time Golden Glove-winning shortstop for the Chicago Cubs, is lonely, heartbroken, and in desperate need of simple human contact. Trapped in the sticky fine print of an ironclad contract that forbids him from revealing his very-much-single status until the season finale of his reality show airs, he calls an elite male escort service that caters to the rich and wretched.
Accustomed to servicing his often less than savory clients at more upscale locales, twenty-six-year-old Toby Carmichael is surprised when his handler sends him to a run-down motel off I-55. But “surprise” doesn’t come close to describing the shock that rocks his system when a delightful stuttering mess covered in tattoos and nearly ten years his senior stumbles into the room—and right into his heart.
For the first time since Toby was forced into the life of prostitution, a kiss sparks a desire that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with genuine chemistry and the faintest beginnings of something so much more. But Toby’s dark past and troubled present make it impossible to see a future with Landon. And when the truth comes to light, a horrified and helpless Landon is determined to save Toby at all costs.
Content Warnings: Discussion of childhood verbal abuse by an adult survivor, homophobia from a close family member, discussion of previous self-harm/cutting behaviors by an adult survivor, prostitution with dubious consent (all interactions between the main characters have full consent and there are no on-page depictions of dub-con situations), consensual and experimental Domination/submission play between mostly-novice characters, mild violence between a main character and antagonist, and human trafficking associated with illegal drugs (nothing explicit on-page, only discussions related to and psychological/mental ramifications of addressed in moderate detail).


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AUTHOR BIO

Evie Drae is a registered nurse by day and an award-winning male/male romance writer by night. She has won first place in seven Romance Writers of America® (RWA®) competitions, including the prestigious title “Best of the Best” in the 2018 Golden Opportunity Contest. She is a double finalist in the 2019 Golden Heart®, in both the Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense categories, and finished as a second-place runner-up in four additional RWA contests.
One of Evie’s favorite things to do is encourage her fellow writers. To that end, she started the #writeLGBTQ and #promoLGBTQ hashtags on Twitter to support and promote LGBTQ+ authors and allies while providing a safe space to connect and grow as a community. She is married to the love of her life, is the mother of three wonderful fur babies, and runs almost entirely on coffee and good vibes.
Evie loves to link up with fellow writers and readers. You can reach her directly at EvieDrae@gmail.com or find her on her social media accounts listed below. Twitter is where she’s most active but be sure to check out her blog too. She focuses on reviews for LGBTQ+ authors and allies with the occasional quirky advice/recommendation post just to toss things up.

Author links


*I received this book in exchange for an honest review*

I have to be honest and say that I've never read a book about romance between two men. not that I am homophobic, but I never had the opportunity to do so, nor have I ever read a book in which the romantic couple is composed by two women. The opportunity just never came. In fact, having received this book to read was also a mistake on my part. I didn't read the synopsis well, or when I read it, I didn't realize it was going to be a story between two men. However, it is a good thing that this happened because it also helped me to get out of my comfort zone and read something I had never read before.

In addition to thinking that the author has a simple and fluid writing, leading the reader to be gently, yet adventurous, forwarded to the end, I also thought that, despite all the "weight" of the story between Toby and Landon, and I speak of "weight" much because of the prejudices that we still face today in our society, above all it is just a story of love and desire for two people who have every right to love whomever they want and to be loved. Often the love that completes us comes from where we least expect it and in Landon's case, it appeared in Toby.
Landon is a baseball player coming from a broken relationship and a family that doesn't accept him as he is. In his desperation to be appreciated for what he is and to feel something more within him, he turns to the services of an escort. Landon is a lovely man and a little clumsy in everything about openness to anyone. Toby is a character that is impossible not to like. Every time we get to know him a little more, it is impossible not to have his heart a little sore for him when we realize how broken and frightened he is by feeling something sincere and honest for someone, especially in the situation in which he knows this person. I found it lovely and at the same time suffered the way they opened up to each other and how they removed each layer of insecurity, fear and distrust of each other. They are really sweet together, I must say.

For those who like this type of story, I think I should give this author and this series an opportunity. However, I think it didn't work out very well for me, not because it is, as I said, a relationship between two men, but because the content itself is not really my thing. I speak of BDSM and other sexual practices that in a book never worked very well for me. I'm more of an "effervescent and passionate" style than fetishes and quirks ... that's why Mr. Gray's series never conveyed anything interesting to me.

However, I advise anyone who is more focused on this type of reading.