Review - LOST RIDER (COMING HOME #1) by Harper Sloan

Publisher: Pocket Books

Pub Date: April 25, 2017

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Source: Print ARC from publisher

Rating: 4.5 stars

Goodreads

Blurb:

In Lost Rider, the first Western romance in New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Harper Sloan’s Coming Home series, an injured rodeo star encounters an old flame but will she be just what he needs to get back in the saddle?

Maverick Austin Davis is forced to return home after a ten-year career as a rodeo star. After one too many head injuries, he’s off the circuit and in the horse farming business, something he’s never taken much of a shine to, but now that it’s his late father’s legacy, familial duty calls. How will Maverick find his way after the only dream he ever had for himself is over?

Enter Leighton Elizabeth James, an ugly duckling turned beauty from Maverick’s childhood—his younger sister’s best friend, to be exact, and someone whose heart he stomped all over when she confessed her crush to him ten years back. Now Leighton is back in Maverick’s life, no longer the insecure, love-stricken teen—and Maverick can’t help but take notice. Sparks fly between them, but will Leighton be able to open her heart to the one man who broke it all those years ago?

Written in the vein of Diana Palmer and Lindsay McKenna, this Texas-set series is filled with sizzle, heart, and plenty of cowboys!

Review:

This was wonderful. I had no problem at all getting lost into Lost Rider and being unable to return. Sloan has an easy way with her writing that makes it feel as if you aren't reading at all. Maverick is a whole lot of sexy goodness all wrapped up into cowboy boots and a stetson. as a professional bull rider, you take a bunch of risks; and Maverick has taken one too many hits too his body that it's more than dangerous to continue. Leighton was the girl he left behind to follow his dreams and leave behind all the hurt and pain he had to endure growing up.

Leighton is the beautiful, strong, and loving best friend of Maverick's little sister. Ten years ago, she took a chance and told Mav how much she loved him and that she always had. Leighton is then left with a broken heart when Maverick leaves without a goodbye. When a family tragedy strikes the Davis family, Maverick has no choice to make it back home. Back home to where he left a lot of things unfinished...mainly the girl he truly cared for but had no room for in his lonely life. 

Love is powerful and will hit you hard when you aren't expecting it. I enjoyed watching Leighton and Maverick fight their way to the finish line. The pain that he had to go through in his childhood is heartbreaking and you're able to see why he keeps the world at arms length. Leighton to me is the perfect contrast to Maverick. She's the light and sun that he needs in is life. 

Second chance romance and cowboys are such a good mix. I think that this is a start to a truly great series. I can't wait to dive back into the world that Sloan has created. Overall, I totally and completely recommend this wonderful and beautiful book. It gives you such a nice feel and I think she got small town Texas down just right. I've lived in a small town in Texas, and I know how everyone and their momma knows everything about everyone. 

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Buy the Book:

Amazon

Amazon UK

About the Author:

Harper is a NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL and USA TODAY bestselling author residing in Georgia with her husband and three daughters. She has a borderline unhealthy obsession with books, hibachi, tattoos and Game of Thrones. When she isn't writing you can almost always find her with a book in hand.


To message Harper please email authorharpersloan@gmail.com OR message her Facebook, www.facebook.com/harpersloanauthor

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Blog Tour Excerpt ft Giveaway: GROUPIE by Susan Daugherty

Today is our stop for the Groupie blog tour! We are so excited to host Groupie and Susan Daugherty! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!

About Groupie:

Moving to a new city isn’t the magic fix Lexie Travis hoped it would be. Sure, she put some mileage between herself and her feuding parents, her miserable dating history, and the memories of a life-altering injury. However, she still feels like a former shadow of herself, hiding behind her diminished confidence and her thorough disbelief in true love.

 Everything changes when Lexie’s best (and only) friend drags her to a country music concert. Lexie loves country music, but she loathes the top-selling heartthrob who sold out the arena. Jack Morgan became a sensation with a string of degrading, shallow songs that she can’t stand.

 A startling trauma lands Jack in the hospital, and Lexie is the physical therapist assigned to the VIP treatment of the very man she despises. Jack is drawn to the one woman who appears resistant to his charms and who loves to check his ego every chance she gets, yet gives him the honesty he needs.

She’s the opposite of his usual groupies

. He can only continue his tour if he receives rehab on the road, and Lexie is the lone person Jack trusts for the job. Reluctantly, she agrees to take the journey on his luxury coach, joining the wild cast of characters on his crew. Yes, she was given many incentives to take the assignment, but the reason she wants to ignore is the dangerous one. Jackson Morgan is growing on her.

 At every turn, another challenge pushes her away from him. Stepping onto the tour bus is the domino that starts a chain reaction in their lives and challenges them both to change. Could they learn to believe in love and happily ever after? *Please note: Groupie is Volume One in a two-part series

Excerpt:

​ I heard him set the phone down and run water in the sink while he began shaving. Then came that booming voice over speakerphone, making me cringe.

​“I just feel like you’re not hearing me, son. This girl is going to cause you a lot of problems. You have mentioned her in interviews, on stage, been together in photos for God’s sake! She kept you from doing your job at the meet-and-greet. I know she played a hand in toning down the dancers and branching into these new songs.” 

He was spitting his words like daggers, and I winced, frozen my spot in the kitchen. Oh, shit, should I announce I’m here? I thought. It was too late and awkward. Maybe I could open the door and slam it so it looks like I just got here .I was too afraid to move…and too curious to miss this conversation.

​“This is ridiculous, Amos. In case you haven’t noticed, the new songs she inspired are hits. I have a notebook full of new stuff she’s responsible for, and I think it’s going to make a great album.”

​“That’s just it, Jack. You’re changing the formula because of her. The success you’ve gained so fast, so early, it hinges on that bad boy reputation. The guys want to be you. The girls want to do you. Everyone wants to party with you. Why would you change that?”

​“There is more to me, that’s why! There’s a reason I wrote the last album like I did, and you know it. That doesn’t mean I always want to be fucking Billy Badass and never grow up. Other artists have progressed overtime, and they do just fine. They have girlfriends, get married, and they still have fans!” Jack was yelling now, and I heard him run the water and tap his razor. 

​“You’re going to regret making all these changes, Jack. I’m trying to look out for you… And that girl—she has insulted you from day one!” Amos was seething, and I was still struck immobile, as if in a nightmare where you try to move, but you can’t. 

​“No, Amos, she actually gets me. She sees more potential in me than anyone else, and she pushes me to be better. She is more than I deserve, but let me tell you something: if she would stop giving me mixed signals and tell me she wanted me, I would be all in. I want to be with her so much…it’s physically painful. So you need to back off.” Jackson was growling now,and I totally lost control of my body as I gasped in shock at his words. 

​The cups slipped from my hands, as if in slow motion, but I could not move to catch them. They clattered to the hardwood, banging the floor, then bouncing to hit the cabinet and back to the floor again. It was the loudest sound I can remember hearing as the blood rushed to my ears. I was still frozen for what seemed like minutes, with my hands shaking and heart thudding, knowing there was no way Jackson didn’t hear. 

​“What was that?” Amos was alarmed.

​“Oh shit,” Jackson said calmly and then, “I have to go.” He clicked the phone off and ran the water one more time.

​I picked the cups up slowly and leaned forward against the counter, trying to catch my breath as my heart raced uncontrollably. I couldn’t even process what I overheard, but I knew it would change everything.

 

Get Your Copy Today:

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About Susan Daugherty:

 

About the author:

 Susan Daugherty is a freelance writer, and by some happy coincidence, also a licensed Physical Therapist and an APTA Board Certified Orthopedic Specialist. She is the author of the 2016 novel Groupie as well as its sequel, Muse. Her essay The Cycle of Inspiration was published in PT InMotion in April 2013. She is a member of Romance Writers of America. Raised in Kentucky, she now resides in Knoxville, Tennessee where she lives with her husband and two children.

Connect with Susan:

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Release Blitz Review : BOOMERANGERS by Heather M. Orgeron

Title: Boomerangers

Author: Heather M. Orgeron

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Release Date: April 27, 2017

Blurb

Boomerangers [boo-muh-rang-ers] noun, informal: an adult that moves back home to live with a parent after a period of independence.

Spencer

I love sex. I love the power, the intimacy, the euphoria it brings. Too bad I’m not having any . . . You’d think as New
 Orleans’ most renowned sex therapist that I’d be swimming in single men. In a way, I am . . . except for the fact that one is in diapers and the other two are drowning in preteen hormones. As a single mother of three, my days are devoted to my clients and my kids, and my nights are spent with Fabio, my trusty vibrator. When my world begins to unravel, I have no choice but to move back home. And when my high school sweetheart comes waltzing back into my life, comedy and chaos ensue.

What can I say? I never said I could pick ’em, but you can bet your ass I know how to fix ’em.

Cooper

As soon as the ink dried on my divorce papers, I made myself a solemn vow: I was done with relationships. Moving home to take over my father’s firm was the plan, until Spencer decided to return, along with three souvenirs from the life she’s lived without me.

I’ve been in love with the girl next door for nearly all of my life; the rest was spent trying to forget her. I’d give almost anything for a second chance with her, but I have no time for distractions—especially the kind that involve diapers, bottles, and eighteen-year commitments.

The problem is, she’s already got me by the balls . . . and I’m beginning to feel the noose tightening around my heart.

Review:

"Be brave with me, Spence.”

Well, that was hella fun. One of my favorite types of tropes in books are musicians and childhood sweethearts. This is definitely the latter and from the very first page, I was taken away to a story that was funny, romantic, charming, and heartfelt. The two main characters have known each other their whole entire lives. Growing up together in diapers, going through the awkward stages of adolescence, first love, and eventually first heartbreak. This is also a second chance romance, another one of my favorites. I couldn't get enough. 

"I don’t want to just fuck you anymore. I want more than this. I want you back. I want us back.”

Spencer is a sex therapist. Much like her small Louisiana hometown, I fed into the cliches of what a sex therapist does. I was charmed to see that she was a hard working independent woman, who just so happens to have three kids. Three adorable and highly entertaining children. When a scandal rocks the clinic she works at, Spencer has no choice but to move back home. It's there that she runs into her first love, and sexy as sin, Cooper. It's almost as if the two were never apart. The chemistry and love that was still there after all these years was beyond palpable. 

Cooper is back home and surprised as hell to see the girl he let go so many years ago there and in the flesh. With her three little boys in tow. He'd do anything to try to win her back even if it means accepting children that aren't and we're supposed to be his. Add that onto meddling mothers and baby daddy drama (not his), and you've got yourself one hell of an entertaining read. Cooper is so damn charming and I immediately loved him. I think Spence had a way with him that really brought out what a great man he was. 

"She’s like their second mother. I swear, if I could convince myself to become a vagitarian, I’d have married that bitch years ago.”

As readers, I think you'll be happy to know that Boomerangers is full of witty dialogue and scenes hot enough to melt your kindle. I have to give a huge shout out to the secondary characters such as both mothers of Spencer and Cooper; the baby, Kyle; Gina, and the twins. Somehow Heather was able to make me fall in love with all of them and love them just as much as Spence and Cooper. 

Anyways, obviously you can tell I adored the story and everything about it. I'm looking forward to reading more from Ms. Orgeron. She has a way of making life not seem too serious — which is exactly what this world needs. 

*I'd like to point out that I totally forgive Cooper for being a Saints fan.*

*Notable scenes: bar scene, first diaper change, realization at falling in love with children who may not biologically be yours, but loving them anyway, and the end. 

*Thank you to the author for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

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Author Bio

Heather M. Orgeron is a Cajun girl with a big heart and a passion for romance. She married her high school sweetheart two months after graduation and her life has been a fairytale ever since. She’s the queen of her castle, reigning over five sons and one bossy little princess who has made it her mission in life to steal her Momma’s throne. When she’s not writing, you will find her hidden beneath mounds of laundry and piles of dirty dishes or locked in her tower(aka the bathroom) soaking in the tub with a good book. She’s always been an avid reader and has recently discovered a love for cultivating romantic stories of her own.

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Blog Tour Review - MISSING by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Published: April 18, 2017

Genre: Young Adult Thriller/Mystery

Source: E-ARC from publisher

Rating:

Blurb:

The only thing Winter Crane likes about Reeve’s End is that soon she’ll leave it. Like her best friend did. Like her sister did. Like most of the teens born in town have done. There’s nothing for them there but abandoned mines and empty futures. They’re better off taking a chance elsewhere.

The only thing Winter will miss is the woods. Her only refuge. At least it was. Until the day she found Lennon left for dead, bleeding in a tree.

But now Lennon is gone too. And he has Winter questioning what she once thought was true. What if nobody left at all? What if they’re all missing?

My Review:

Missing is a slow rolling yet satisfying read. In the beginning I didn't know what to expect or where the story was going. Which was a good thing because I wasn't able to guess anything that happened until the very end when the mystery is finally revealed. Even then, I didn't see it coming. Armstrong's novels are full of good writing, great characters, and a plot that will keep you reading until the very end. 

The main character, Winter, lives in a beat up old town that has nothing to offer. All she wants to do is get through her senior year of high school so that she can get out of town when she goes to college. Then eventually make her way to med school to become a doctor. Her solace is the forest. Away from her alcoholic father and the place that's full of emptiness since her sister left town and never look backed. 

When she's in the woods she finds a boy, Lennon, whose halfway to dead and is able to take him to her shack in the forest and fix him up. That's when all the creepiness sets in. There's someone out there playing a game of cat and mouse with them and Lennon feels that since he put her in danger, it's up him to stop everything. He disappears. 

Then Jude enters the picture. Jude is the brother of Lennon and he'll stop at nothing to find him. He and Winter team up to do the impossible. Look into the mystery as to why local teens have gone missing. 

I really did enjoy the book. In the beginning it was a little slow but it quickly gains momentum. Enough to have me wanting more. There is very little romance in the book but I felt like it was perfect. The real story and more interesting one is in fact the missing teens. As I stated before, I wasn't able to guess about anything that even remotely came close to as what happened. 

Readers, if you're looking for a creepy thriller that'll keep you on your toes, don't miss out. 

*Review copy given by publisher for honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Buy the Book:

Amazon

Amazon UK

About the Author:

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. 

Kelley's Website

Review ft Giveaway - THAT SUMMER by Sarah Dessen

I'm so happy to be part of #ReadADessen and get ready for the Once and For All release! Make sure to follow the blog tour and read all the Easter eggs that Sarah has put in all her books. 

Author: Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Speak

Publication date: June 2012 

Genre: Young Adult
Source: Paperback copy sent from Publisher. #PRHPARTNER

Blurb:

For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She's nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister—the always perfect Ashley—is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley's reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

My Thoughts:

I've been a Dessen since I was in high school. One day at Target I found The Truth About Forever and immediately fell in love with Dessen's writing. Wes was my favorite ever book boyfriend, before there was ever such a thing. See, there was a time when we didn't have kindles. So, I would have to wait until I was able to go to the bookstore to get my fix. 

That Summer is the perfect read on a nice, hot day - preferably on a beach somewhere sipping 

margaritas. While Haven isn't one of my favorite characters, there was still something very endearing about her. Such as the fact that you can relate to her on a personal level. Her life is anything but easy. Growing up tall isn't as cracked up to be. Add on her parents divorce and family marriages, and you've got yourself the difficulty of what we call life. 

*A paperback copy was given by Penguin Random House for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Title: Once and For All

Author: Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Publication date: June 6, 2017

Pages: 400

Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository 

Synopsis:

As bubbly as champagne and delectable as wedding cake, Once and for All, Sarah Dessen's thirteenth novel, is set in the world of wedding planning, where crises are routine.

Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that's why she's cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm's length. But Ambrose isn't about to be discouraged, now that he's met the one girl he really wants.

Sarah Dessen’s many, many fans will adore her latest, a richly satisfying, enormously entertaining story that has everything—humor, romance, and an ending both happy and imperfect, just like life itself.

 ABOUT SARAH DESSEN

Sarah Dessen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen novels for teens, which have received numerous awards and rave reviews. Her books have been published in over thirty countries and have sold millions of copies worldwide. She is the recipient of the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for outstanding contribution to young adult literature for her novels: Keeping the Moon, Dreamland, This Lullaby, The Truth about Forever, Just Listen, Along for the Ride, and What Happened to Goodbye. Her newest novel, Once and for All, will be released in June 2017. An NC native, she currently lives in Chapel Hill with her family.

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Giveaway Legal Copy:

Enter for a chance to win one (1) set of Sarah Dessen’s books in paperback (ARV: $132.00).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on April 17, 2017 and 12:00 AM on May 29, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about June 1, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

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