The Rapid Fire Book Tag

November 04, 2017

Hello my lovelies! I've never participated in a book tag but I came across this one when I took my nosiness to the internet. This particular challenge comes from what I found on the blog, Tomes with Tea. I encourage you to do this too!

Ok, so here are the questions:

1. eBook or physical books?
I've always been interested in collecting hard copies of anything I plan to or have read. But with the popularity of eBooks on the rise, I find that I usually purchase a copy before deciding on which book to add to my physical book shelves.

2. Paperback or hardcover?
I used to prefer hardcovers, simply because I thought that they would last longer. However, now I'm not such a stickler because not only are paperbacks lighter, they're also smaller so I can fit more onto my shelves ;)

3. Online or in-store book shopping?
I buy most of my books online, but nothing beats wandering through a bookstore and browsing and touching the options.

4. Trilogies or series?
I love series! The more books the merrier, especially when the series is about the same characters. I find it allows for further character development, for the plot to be well-rounded, and for the story to reach a satisfying conclusion.

5. Heroes or villains?
Is it bad that I love both? ðŸ™ˆ Even my heroes have to have a good dose of assholeism to make me happy.

6. A book you want everyone to read?
Anything from Sister Souljah. If you want some realism, you'll enjoy her books.

7. Recommend an underrated book?
Although Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is now a successful TV show, when I first started the series, NO ONE I knew had ever read it. Even now, many people who love the show still haven't read the series. Go figure!

8. The last book you finished?
This changes every day as I tend to read a book a day. The last one was A Cowboy For Christmas by Celia Aaron.

9. The last book you bought?
I actually bought several in one shot. One of them was Gun Shy by Lili St. Germain. You can check out the others when I get my book haul section up and running.

Review: White Water, Black Death by Shaun Ebelthite

White Water, Black Death by Shaun Ebelthite
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone
Release - September 5, 2017
Genre - Thriller
Multiple POV - 3rd person
Length - 284 pages

Magazine editor Geneva Jones has been sent on a trans-Atlantic cruise to help secure a major advertising agreement from the CEO of the cruise line Rachel Atkinson, but her efforts to win her over are curtailed by a mysterious crew death. Geneva suspects foul play. Rachel insists its suicide. A former investigative journalist, Geneva can’t resist digging deeper, but what she finds is far more devastating. There’s an Ebola outbreak on the ship, everyone is trapped aboard and Rachel is trying to keep it secret.

Geneva knows enough about Ebola to be terrified, but she’s also onto the biggest story of her career. Rachel turns Geneva’s own colleagues against her when she tries to investigate, so she enlists the help of her son, Aaron Atkinson, whom Rachel adopted from Uganda seven years ago, when he was a teenager. Now an isolated and vaguely broken adult, he’s an easily manipulated source. At least that’s what Geneva thought. Off the coast of Bermuda, with the ship anchored in quarantine, Aaron makes a public announcement informing passengers of the outbreak.

Panic surges through the ship. People begin jumping overboard, ignoring a ship-wide lockdown. The ship’s security start to lose control, tasering passengers indiscriminately. A mayday is declared in front of the world’s media, but Bermuda refuses to open its maritime border. The ship limps toward Miami, with more than half of everyone aboard sick. Rachel shocks everyone by resigning after a public lounge is converted into an apocalyptic triage clinic. Geneva has lost her story, Ebola can’t be treated on-board and the nearest help is more than 3,000 miles away.

ARC Review: Scored by Sloane Howell

November 03, 2017

Scored by Sloane Howell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Standalone
Release - October 17, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Sports Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Length - 221 pages

Kelsey: My mom would tell you I’m quite the catch, but since my last boyfriend, I haven’t been dating much. Maybe it’s my rocker style or my lack of filter that intimidates the boys. So I’m pleasantly surprised when Matt Stallworth waltzes into the indie record store where I work and gives as good he gets. Turns out Matt is a professional baseball player, which should mean he’s out of my league. But if he wants to hook up with me, he’s going to have to follow my rules.

Matt: After winning my MVP award, I learned that a guy can get used to having beautiful women practically throw themselves at you everywhere you turn. But everything changes the first time I see Kelsey Martin, and something just clicks. She’s hot, snarky, and whip-smart. I’ve got to see her again. Only problem is, she sees right through all my best moves. And I’m going to have to step up my game to convince Kelsey that I’m playing for keeps.

ARC Review: Enough by Danielle Norman

November 01, 2017

Enough by Danielle Norman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone - Iron Orchids #1
Release - November 2, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Length - 254 pages

Some things in life were inevitable; death, taxes, and lying, whoremongering men.
One woman would never be enough for one man.
So I traded in men for a Harley.
Nothing beats that kind of power between my legs.
Then I blinked.
And he was there.

Some things in life were inevitable; death, taxes, and badge bunnies willing to hop into my bed.
The only problem is I’m a one woman kind of man.
In my line of work, I’ve seen it all.
Nothing bothers me until I find a woman’s wrecked body.
When she blinked,
My world changed.
Forever doesn't come close to giving me enough of her.

ARC Review: Misadventures of the First Daughter by Meredith Wild & Mia Michelle

October 31, 2017

Misadventures of the First Daughter by Meredith Wild and Mia Michelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone - Misadventures #3
Release - October 30, 2017
Genre - Erotic Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 4.5 out of 5
Length - 280 pages

Charlotte Daley is the daughter of the newly elected POTUS. An only child, she's both spoiled rotten and entirely neglected by her powerful family. She's been forced to eat with the right forks, smile at all the right times, and be the picture of perfection for months. Now that her father is in office and too busy to know she exists, she's determined to exercise her new freedom before she heads back to college in New York. Zane Parker has one job-to protect the president's daughter, all day, every day. But she's been on a partying spree since the inauguration, heading down a dangerous path that threatens to ruin her reputation and cause a major scandal for her father. Zane will lose his job if he can't get her under control. Except he wants to sleep with her as badly as he wants to set her straight. She needs discipline. And he might be just the one to give it to her. When unexpected circumstances tie Charlotte to DC for the foreseeable future, Zane makes her an offer that's anything but honorable. He'll give the first daughter all the thrills she's seeking in exchange for one thing ... Her obedience. Fascinated by Zane's dark promises, Charlotte agrees. Submission has never felt so good. But as Zane brings her deeper into his forbidden desires, enemies surface and danger lurks ...

Review: Alone Before You by Claire Scott

October 30, 2017

Alone Before You by Claire Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Before You #1
Release - May 31, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Heroine POV - 1st person
Heat - 3.5 out of 5
Length - 362 pages

With her past haunting her, Gwen Taylor shut herself off from every relationship she ever had.

But her lonely existence comes to an end when she moves to Beauforde, a small mountain town in Colorado. And when she meets Colton Underwood, a businessman and amateur boxer.

Their attraction is consuming, and soon even Gwen can’t deny her growing feelings toward Colt or the fact that their affair is anything but casual. But, even as she comes alive for the first time in years, her past threatens to destroy everything.

Drowning with guilt over a something she cannot change, Gwen must face her fears before it all catches up to her.

Review: The Heart of the Alchemist by Penny Wells

The Heart of the Alchemist by Penny Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone
Release - August 13, 2017
Genre - Historical Time Travel Romance
Heroine POV - 3rd person
Heat - 2.5 out of 5
Length - 242 pages

When the love of her life dumps her, Katie spends three years living with a broken heart.
Seeing him with his new fiancée prompts her to make some changes, but before she can, Katie is torn abruptly from twenty-first century Chicago.

Landing in Elizabethan England, she finds herself in a room with a handsome alchemist named
Robert. Unable to send her home, Lord Robert assumes the role of her guardian and helps her learn how to live in 1566 London. Robert’s father, the spymaster to Queen Elizabeth, sees the value in Katie’s knowledge from the future and allows her to come to court. Plunged into a world of scandals and secrets she doesn’t understand, Katie risks her life to earn Lord Robert’s trust.

As a man with questionable intent begins to pursue her, stirring Robert to jealousy, Katie discovers she may feel more for Robert than she thought. Being a woman in the sixteenth century where she may be disciplined, married off, or locked away is fraught with perils. But has Katie found love despite these dangers?

Review: Night Walker by Aaron L. Speer

October 28, 2017

Night Walker by Aaron L. Speer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Undeadly Secrets #1
Release - September 3, 2014
Genre - Paranormal Romance
Multiple POV - 3rd person
Heat - 3 out of 5
Length - 270 pages

Vampires wage a secret, merciless war for ownership of Sydney.

But just when humans seem nothing more than prey, the hunters just might become the hunted...

When Alexandra Hensley meets Dante Delavega, owner of the hottest nightclub in Sydney, she has no idea how he will affect her life.

Alex learns Dante holds the key to her past and there is something she must know. When she discovers what really happened to her parents, she unlocks an Australian secret kept hidden since the First Fleet.

But no truth comes without a cost, and a secret of this magnitude has only remained hidden due to one simple rule: they join us or die.

Word of her discovery spreads to those whose sole purpose is to keep the secret buried, and Dante's greatest battle begins.

Alex must be silenced, and Dante is all that is standing in their way.

Can he truly save Alex? Or will Alex be yet another victim of knowing the Undeadly Secret?

ARC Review: A Wicked Treat by Crimson Syn

October 27, 2017

A Wicked Treat by Crimson Syn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone - Sinful Holiday #1
Release - October 8, 2017
Genre - Smut
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 5 out of 5
Length - 83 pages

Anthony Reed has me primed and ready for so much more.
More of his mouth, more of his touch, more of his deliciously dirty words.
The man seduced me from the first moment I saw him,
And I can’t seem to stop myself from getting lost in him.
But my job is at stake, and so is my heart.
Yet I can’t help but fall for his devilish ways.

I have never yearned for a woman like I do Miss Ana Collins.
She’s beautiful, smart and unbelievably tempting.
She’s also my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher.
I should stay away from her, protect her, but I can’t do that.
My angel means everything to me.
Even if I have to fight my torrid past, I will have her.
She’s the only one who can mend my broken heart.

Review: First Crush, Last Love by Elizabeth McKenna

First Crush, Last Love by Elizabeth McKenna
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Standalone
Release - August 1, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Dual POV - 3rd person
Heat - 1.5 out of 5
Length - 316 pages

Back in high school, Lee Archer had the power to make Jessie Baxter’s cheeks flush and her heart race. But the popular athlete never wanted to be more than just friends. Ten years later, after a failed marriage and with her journalism career on shaky ground, Jessie’s come home for her high school reunion—and Lee still has the power to make her knees weak and her pulse pound.

Lee's teenage years were filled with more trauma and drama than anyone guessed. Though his damaged past has helped make him a successful police detective, it's hurt every relationship he's tried. But seeing the grown-up, stunning Jessie might just change his commitment-phobic mind.

Jessie’s psycho ex-husband had her convinced no one would ever love her, but Lee is ready to step out of the friend zone and into her heart. Can she learn to trust again before she loses her chance to turn her first crush into her last love?