REVIEW: The Lawyer by Marni Mann

OUR REVIEW:

Marni Mann's latest, The Lawyer, is steamy with a capital S. If you are looking for an erotic romance that wastes no time getting right to the sexy times, this should do it for you. This story follows the romance of Kendall and Dominick; one that starts with an instant attraction and chemistry and ends with the happily ever after we all seek. 

Kendall, our heroine, is a blend of sweet, smart, and sexy. She's got this girl next door vibe --a big heart who wants to make the people in her life happy. But don't mistake her kindness for weakness; she's not a doormat--she doesn't let people walk all over or take advantage of her. She reads situations really well and handles disappointments with grace and cunning.

Dominick, her counterpart, could not be more opposite of Kendall in many ways. He's an alpha at all times, got sex on the brain 99% of the time, and to be honest, it took me a while to warm up to him. He was so insistent that nothing could ever come of him and Kendall that he wasted time denying his desire and longings more more. Once I got past his constant sex on the brain mentality when it initially came to Kendall, I saw a character that was warm and loving and I was honestly pleasantly surprised at how he handled so much in the back half of the book.

This novel has all the things you'd want when you think Hollywood--glitz and glam and a peek at what happens when someone skyrockets to fame. It also shows the unfortunate side of fame and how damaging it can be. I read it in what felt like seconds--it was a delicious escape that satisfies the craving of a quick, fun, erotic read. It'll be interesting to see how the other Dalton brothers fall. 

The Lawyer by Marni Mann is now live!

A sexy, new stand-alone in the Dalton Brothers Series from USA Today best-selling author Marni Mann …

I’m not the type of girl who picks up a man on a rooftop bar.

Not the kind of girl who lets a man’s hands roam my body, discovering I have no panties on.

Never the girl who has hours’ worth of o’s from a smoking-hot one-night stand.

But Dominick makes it so easy to say yes.

His body, his moves, and his oh-so-wicked tongue have me saying it over and over again.

Yes, please.

Yes, more.

Yes, right there.

He worships every inch of my body, and I’m still sore the next morning when I meet him again.

This time, he’s Mr. Dalton, my sister’s cutthroat entertainment lawyer.

And he has a proposition for me.

He wants to make me famous.

Of course, that means sharing a screen with my wildly jealous sister.

It means giving up my career.

It means the whole world will suddenly know everything about me.

Which presents one catastrophic problem—Dominick doesn’t date famous people.

So, do I take a chance at becoming a Hollywood star, or do I pass up the opportunity to be with the man who gave me a taste of forever?

 

Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble!

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Meet Marni

USA Today best-selling author Marni Mann knew she was going to be a writer since middle school. While other girls her age were daydreaming about teenage pop stars, Marni was fantasizing about penning her first novel. She crafts unique stories that weave together her love of darkness, mystery, passion, and human emotions. A New Englander at heart, she now lives in Sarasota, Florida, with her husband and their yellow Lab. When she’s not nose deep in her laptop, working on her next novel, she’s scouring for chocolate, sipping wine, traveling, or devouring fabulous books.

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REVIEW: You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glascow

OUR REVIEW:

If you're looking for a novel that will punch in you in the heart with all of the feels, run, don't walk to your nearest bookseller and grab You'd Be Home Now. This novel hooked me within the first sentences and didn't let me go. The story of Emmy and her family and her life in high school felt so relatable; even though I'm decades from my own personal experience, I definitely recognize so many versions of this in that of my students and my daughters. 

Kathleen Glascow captured those feelings of being invisible or of being isolated, the burdens of addiction and secrets, and the desire to protect those you love, even if it may be detrimental to you that I found myself tearing up many times. She put you right there with Emmy and you couldn't help but feel her anxiety, her sadness, her desire, and her hope as it poured out on the page. 

Now that I've found Kathleen Glascow, I'm going to be reading her earlier two novels with no doubt that I'm going to find myself tearful and fulfilled by the time I get to "the end".

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/2YRZLzd

From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a raw, deeply personal story about a town ravaged by the opioid crisis, and a teenaged girl struggling to find herself amidst the fallout of her brother's addiction.

For all of Emory's life she's been told who she is. In town she's the rich one--the great-great-granddaughter of the mill's founder. At school she's hot Maddie Ward's younger sister. And at home, she's the good one, her stoner older brother Joey's babysitter. Everything was turned on its head, though, when she and Joey were in the car accident that killed Candy MontClaire. The car accident that revealed just how bad Joey's drug habit was.

Four months later, Emmy's junior year is starting, Joey is home from rehab, and the entire town of Mill Haven is still reeling from the accident. Everyone's telling Emmy who she is, but so much has changed, how can she be the same person? Or was she ever that person at all?

Mill Haven wants everyone to live one story, but Emmy's beginning to see that people are more than they appear. Her brother, who might not be "cured," the popular guy who lives next door, and most of all, many "ghostie" addicts who haunt the edges of the town. People spend so much time telling her who she is--it might be time to decide for herself.

A journey of one sister, one brother, one family, to finally recognize and love each other for who they are, not who they are supposed to be, You'd Be Home Now is Kathleen Glasgow's glorious and heartbreaking story about the opioid crisis, and how it touches all of us. 

REVIEW: Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glascow

 

OUR REVIEW:

Second Kathleen Glascow in the last few weeks and I'm waiting to read the only one of her novels I haven't read so that I can stretch out her reads for as long as I can. 

Girl in Pieces was a particularly relevant to me as I have a family member who has battled with self-harm and I know I've had too many students battling with it too. While my family member doesn't/didn't have the same relationship with self-harm that Charlie does, it still gave me so much insight into some of the thoughts and feelings that many may feel and that knowledge is immeasurably helpful. 

Charlie's journey was one that focused on not just her battle to heal (literally and figuratively) and embedded in that journey were stories of friendship, finding self-worth and self-confidence, grappling with the past and finding hope in the future. It also showed us that family isn't always the one that we were born into, but also the one that we choose and make for ourselves. Charlie's story was painful  and challenging, and yet it held so much hope and promise that I ended the novel feeling positive about Charlie's future.

As with both Glascow novels that I've read, I can't stop thinking about the characters. They now live in my heart and take up space in my head, and I just hope against hope that whatever they're doing, they're happy. That's the type of novel experience this was--one that just sticks with you. 

As a teacher of teens, I know that this novel may be triggering for some of my students on their own journeys of healing, but I hope to put it on my shelf soon, because I absolutely know that it is a novel that will also be so helpful for some in my classes.

SIDE NOTE: I enjoyed the unusually structured breaks between scenes and chapters and I love that the publisher/agent/editors encouraged a debut writer to take risks and not do the expected. Kudos to that team!

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3zofT8f

SYNOPSIS:

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people do in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.

Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge.

A deeply moving portrait of a girl in a world that owes her nothing, and has taken so much, and the journey she undergoes to put herself back together. Kathleen Glasgow's debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.

REVIEW: The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George

 

OUR REVIEW:

Just like the first book in this series, The Devil and the Heiress leaves no detail unexplored. Harper St. George puts us in a world that is very far away and yet so very relevant; while no one I know has to be married off to create a presence in society, I do find that some of the issues that Violet and Christian must can be seen in the world today. The pressures of family and societal expectations and how your own needs and desires have to sometimes be pushed aside to meet those expectations, is something I know many people struggle with. 

These Crenshaw siblings are a delight, even if their parents are total a-holes. I love their fiery and independent spirits and their willingness to do whatever it takes to get what they want. Their romantic counterparts are equally interesting and delightfully flawed, stubborn, and swoony. Violet and Christian continue with those traits--their journey to their HEA made more interesting by the literal journey-- and I'm eager to see what happens next (with the hope that their parents finally get their comeuppance!). 

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No one would guess that beneath Violet Crenshaw's ladylike demeanor lies the heart of a rebel. American heiresses looking to secure English lords must be on their best behavior, but Violet has other plans. She intends to flee London and the marriage her parents have arranged to become a published author--if only the wickedly handsome earl who inspired her most outrageously sinful character didn't insist on coming with her.

Christian Halston, Earl of Leigh, has a scheme of his own: escort the surprisingly spirited dollar princess north and use every delicious moment in close quarters to convince Violet to marry him. Christian needs an heiress to rebuild his Scottish estate but the more time he spends with Violet, the more he realizes what he really needs is her--by his side, near his heart, in his bed.

Though Christian's burning glances offer unholy temptation, Violet has no intention of surrendering herself or her newfound freedom in a permanent deal with the devil. It's going to take more than pretty words to prove this fortune hunter's love is true....

REVIEW: For Love or Honey by Staci Hart

OUR REVIEW

For Love or Honey is such a treat. I consumed this novel in less than a day (which I always feel so guilty about because I know that it took months to write and I just inhaled it in a day, but I digress..) and was very put out when I got to the last page and there wasn't more. I would've gladly binged the next one and the next one, if they were available to read. 

So what made this such a fun experience? Wellllllll, first I love a good enemies to lovers trope and Jo and Grant most definitely start on opposite sides of fracking. They're both stubborn and tricky and the dialogue that comes from their run ins is perfect and hilarious. The way that each of them approach the other and try to get what they want...*chef's kiss*. Jo's tests and Grant's willingness to be put through them are also hilarious and build that romantic tension that we all love in Staci Hart's romcoms.

In addition to Grant and Jo's storyline, I can't help but fall in love with all of the secondary characters--her family, the small town friends, neighbors, and gossips--added warmth and familiarity. And of course, the small community, despite the small town gossip and conflicts that can arise, is romanticized in a way that makes me *think* I want to immediately move to a small town (having grown up in a small town, I definitely don't want that at this point but it such a testament to her writing that I would even entertain the idea). 

Not only did I fall in love with Jo and Grant's love story, I found myself loving to hate Grant's dad and all the things he represents. Staci Hart can write the heck out of villain and his dad was e-v-i-l and I wanted to smack him every time he arrived on my page.

All of this to say that I was completely absorbed and entertained by For Love or Honey and I'm sad that it's over but I'm eager to read what comes next. 

For Love or Honey by Staci Hart is a brand new enemies to lovers rom - com, available NOW! This new release is the perfect weekend binge. Grab your copy from your favorite online retailer!

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"Leave me with this book, the characters and the bees and I’ll be one happy reader - probably forever." - The Chatty Romance Reader

BLURB

When the devil comes to town, you have to meet him head on.

Which is exactly what I did when Grant Stone rolled into our small Texas town, driving a sports car I could fit in the bed of my truck, wearing a suit as black as his soul. He’s here to acquire mineral rights to half a dozen farms in town.

And there’s no way he’s getting mine.

I don’t make deals with the devil.

So when he challenges me to show him the small town ropes, my motivation is the prospect of seeing him make a fool of himself. He might have an angle, but if he thinks he can finagle me into endangering my bee farm, he’s got another thi ng coming.

Until the line in the sand is washed away.

My farm in danger. A town in upheaval. A man who will stop at nothing to g et what he wants.

And me in the middle.

When the devil comes to town, you have to meet him head on.

And when he sneaks into your heart, he’ll only break it.

Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life -- a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing and handbag designer, a waitress. Can't for get that. She's also been a mom, with three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. She's been a wife, though she's certainly not the cleanest, or the best cook. She's also super, duper fun at a party, especially if she's been dri nking whiskey. When she's not writing, she's reading, sleeping, gaming, or designing graphics.

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REVIEW: Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes by Alexa Martin

I've been enamored with Alexa Martin's writing from the first novel I've read of hers; her novels contain a great mixture of humor and emotion and friendship and romance. While Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes focuses more on the friendship aspect, there's definitely a nice dose of romance that is threaded throughout. 

As noted in probably many other reviews, this novel is really an ode to female friendship. Lauren and Jude, lifelong best friends, become roommates for a variety of reasons, we come to learn. Lauren needs to escape her overbearing parents and has some financial constraints and Jude needs to escape her overbearing mother and also has financial constraints. Naturally, it stands to reason that they would room together, despite the obvious differences in their lifestyles--Lauren is a single, working mom working on some issues with her ex and Jude is a social media star, working through some issues with her formerly famous mom. Despite those differences, as it often does in real life too, their friendship works with and through these differences and makes for a sweet living arrangement. Until it doesn't.

One of the things I really appreciate about this novel is that it doesn't idealize friendship. It shows the challenges and strains that exist and the worries and concerns we all have when our friends are in trouble. It shows Jude and Lauren love each other and struggle with each other and how even best friends have challenges that aren't easily overcome. Rather than write a novel that romanticizes best friends, Martin shows the strength that a true friendship has, even with all of the missteps and dumb things we do to sometimes sabotage things. 

I also enjoyed the ode to the repeated image of how powerful and wonderful being a woman, having strong female friendships ,and lifting up other women that this novel had. Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes was a slight shift from the novels Alexa Martin has written before and I enjoyed the experience. 

BUY IT https://amzn.to/2WSJ3Pa

SYNOPSIS: 

Two best friends say "I do" to living together, for better or worse, in this bold women's fiction novel from Alexa Martin.

Jude Andrews is famous. Well, at least on Instagram. Her brand is clean eating, good vibes, Pilates, and casually looking like a sun-kissed goddess. In real life, however, she’s a total disaster. She has a strained relationship with her fame-hungry mom and her latest bad decision emptied out her entire savings account.

Lauren Turner had a plan: graduate medical school and become the top surgeon in the country. But when she became unexpectedly pregnant, those plans changed. And when her fiancé left her, they changed again. Now navigating the new world of coparenting, mom groups, and dating,  she decides to launch a mommy podcast with all the advice she wishes someone had given her.

Jude and Lauren don't have much in common, but maybe that's why they've been best friends since the third grade. Through ups and downs, they've been by each other's sides. But now? They’re broke, single, and do the only thing that makes sense—move in together, just like they talked about when they were teenagers. Except when they were younger, the plan didn't include a five-year-old daughter and more baggage than their new townhouse can hold.

NEW REVIEW: Saint by Sierra Simone

 

  SAINT by Sierra Simone Release Date: September 7th 

Genre/Tropes: M/M/Second-chance romance/Brothers Best Friend/Forbidden Romance   

    

  PREORDER AVAILABLE! 

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  Amazon INTL: mybook.to/SaintINTL 

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  Nook: sierrasim.one/NookSaint 

  Kobo: sierrasim.one/KoboSaint 

  Google Play: sierrasim.one/PlaySaint 

OUR REVIEW:

Saint is a meditation. It's a revelation. It's heaven and hell. Joy and agony. It's ahhhhhmaaaaazing. It's been a while since I've been in the world of the Bell brothers and what a world it is. Gah. While I found the previous two novels in this series to be unique and impossible to put down, Saint was so unexpectedly compelling that it was almost shocking to me. I wish I could adequately express exactly my reading experience but how do you put into words the image of me just staring off into space contemplating the various dilemmas presented and eventual conclusions that Aiden (aka Father Patrick) came to? Honestly. Sierra Simone actually made me miss going to church and I cannot tell you the last time I actually had that thought (literally-decades). 

The barrier to an Aiden and Elijah happily ever after, as you can see from the synopsis, are challenging (understatement, right). I mean the brother's best friend...we can work around that. The engagement? Those can be broken. Being in an exclusive relationship with God. Ummmm, how's that gonna work? Well as Sierra Simone has shown us time and time again, there's no such thing as too challenging in her book worlds. She takes each of these issues and, in a sometimes anxiety inducing way, manages to have her characters figure it out. No lie, there were times when this process of getting to the HEA was painful, but there were also times when it was delightfully naughty, or incredibly thoughtful, and most definitely there were times when it felt like pure joy. 

Out of all the novels in this series, I think this one might be my favorite (so far). I loved contemplating the questions that Aiden's dilemmas posed. I also loved the hints of answers that are given. And I especially loved the various conversations and opportunities to consider all of the ways religion and its institutions work or don't work for us. The removal of the suffocatingly strict binary that often times seems (seemed) like the only choice was a beautiful thing and I so very much enjoyed exploring the ideas that surrounded the removal of that binary. 

At this point, I'm rambling and it only probably makes sense to me. So I'll end where I began. This novel, Saint, was a revelation. A meditation. Heaven and hell. Joy and agony. And I'm jealous of all of you who get to read it for the first time.

           

  Add to Goodreads http://bit.ly/Saint_GR      

      

  Blurb: I can’t have Elijah Iverson.   I can’t have him because he’s my older brother’s best friend. I can’t have him because I broke his heart five years ago; because he’s now engaged to someone else—someone kind and dependable who deserves his whiskey eyes, his soft mouth, his fierce intellect.   I can’t have Elijah because I’ve chosen God instead.   The Bell brothers, though . . . well, we don't exactly have the greatest track record with vows. But I’m determined to do this monk thing right—to pledge myself to a cloistered life and spend the rest of my years in chastity and prayer. But now Elijah’s here. He’s here and he’s coming with me on my European monastery road trip, and between the whispered confessions and the stolen kisses and the moments bent over an ancient altar, my vows are feeling flimsier by the day.   And vows or not, I know in my heart that it would take more than a good and holy monk to resist Elijah Iverson right now. It would take a saint.   And we all know that I’m no saint.   (This is the third full-length standalone in the Priest Collection, featuring Father Bell's brother, Aiden Bell. You do not have to read Priest or Sinner to read Saint.)           

  About the Author: Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City. 

     

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NEW REVIEW: Chasing Serenity by Kristen Ashley

Chasing Serenity, an all new sexy and swoony opposites attract standalone romance from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley, is available now!

OUR REVIEW:

Chasing Serenity was yet another Kristen Ashley novel that I inhaled in a matter of hours. Chloe and Judge were exactly what I wanted when I started reading. 

Chloe was equal parts frustrating and adorable and strong and vulnerable. Judge was equal parts wonderful and wonderful...As I'm sitting here typing this I'm realizing that I don't see anything not to like about him. Hmmmm. He's warm, understanding, smart, confident, good sense of humor, observant. Hmmmm. Interesting. It's unusual that I find a character that is *that* good, but really he is. Judge was really the perfect counterpart for Chloe. She was carrying the whole world on her shoulders and had an armor of chainmail and steel that made it impossible for the average man to get through. Luckily for all of us, Judge immediately calls her on her BS and she does the same for him. 

I thought Chasing Serenity was an interesting continuation of After the Climb.  While it features Chloe, a daughter of Imogen, the stories of Imogen and Bowie, and Corey play an important part in the development of Chloe and Chloe's story. It was neat to see it so interconnected. I liked that this was a love story but it was also a story about family and family dynamics. And also, the definition of family and how sometimes our friends are more of a family than our blood relatives. 

As with all of Kristen Ashley's novels, food and fashion and interiors are almost characters as they play a huge role in defining people and places. There also hilarious instances of banter and inner monologues and swoony romance. But most of all, for me, this novel, like all of her novels, is like putting on my favorite oversized, cozy cardigan--it's comfort; it's warm; it's hard to put down.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kristen Ashley brings a new novel in her River Rain series…

From a very young age, Chloe Pierce was trained to look after the ones she loved.

And she was trained by the best.

But when the man who looked after her was no longer there, Chloe is cast adrift—just as the very foundation of her life crumbled to pieces.

Then she runs into tall, lanky, unpretentious Judge Oakley, her exact opposite. She shops. He hikes. She drinks pink ladies. He drinks beer. She’s a city girl. He’s a mountain guy.

Obviously, this means they have a blowout fight upon meeting. Their second encounter doesn’t go a lot better.

Judge is loving the challenge. Chloe is everything he doesn’t want in a woman, but he can’t stop finding ways to spend time with her. He knows she’s dealing with loss and change.

He just doesn’t know how deep that goes. Or how ingrained it is for Chloe to care for those who have a place in her heart, how hard it will be to trust anyone to look after her…

And how much harder it is when it’s his turn.

Fall in love today!
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About Kristen Ashley

Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Hero, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over three million books.
Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense. Her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) and The Hookup all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.

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