In Pieces by Danielle Pearl Release Week Blitz

The second New Adult novel in the Something More series by bestselling author Danielle Pearl!

Beth Caplan is ready to begin college a new woman. She's worked hard to overcome her demons, and she's eager to live in a world where no one knows about her past. Except, of course, her childhood crush. David March has known Beth a lifetime. Tasked by her older brother to look after the beautiful incoming freshman, he takes his job exceptionally seriously. Even if she tempts him in ways no kid-sister type ever should.

When Beth's ex shows up as a transfer student, and a creepy stranger with a reputation for violence sets his sights on her, Dave will do whatever it takes to protect her, even if it means moving her in with him. When he learns just how much a secret from his past hurt the girl he's always cared for, he becomes doubly determined to protect her, even from himself. But that's easier said than done.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Danielle Pearl is the bestselling author of the Something More series. She lives in New Jersey with her three delicious children and ever-supportive husband, who---luckily---doesn't mind sharing her with an array of fictional men. She did a brief stint at Boston University and worked in marketing before publishing her debut novel, Normal. She writes mature Young Adult and New Adult contemporary romance. Danielle enjoys coffee, wine, and cupcakes, and not in moderation.

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REVIEW

* * * 1/2

Source: advance e-galley provided in exchange for honest review


Beth's life was in turmoil three years ago after a devastating break up that had her taking matters into her own hands to get rid of the sadness. Now as a college freshman, that incident is behind her and her focus is on her studies and being someone who can help others. She finds her attempt at normalcy thwarted every so often by none other than David, her older brother's best friend and her long-time secret crush. He doesn't seem to reciprocate so she's resigned herself to the fact that nothing can happen. As much as David has been keeping his feelings for Beth in check, his top priority is Beth's well-being and he means to keep his promise to her brother to keep her safe. He does it to the point of overprotectiveness treating her as if she's a fragile china doll that'll break at any moment. He's so intent on sheltering her that he doesn't see how he's practically smothering her. This causes a lot of tension between them which only makes it harder to hold back his feelings for her. That temptation to cross the line from friendship to something more is just dangling there in front of them.

I remember Pearl's other book, In Ruins, as being angst-ridden which is honestly what I was expecting here. However, In Pieces couldn't have felt more different to me. Beth's rocky and emotional journey to distance herself from her past mistake - that thing that she refuses to be defined by - is told in a sympathetic and sensitive way. It's a story that sheds a little light on mental health, for example how something that can be seemingly innocuous is perhaps a sign of something that requires more attention. Beth's self-awareness and resilience is what impressed me most and I was very drawn to her narrative above anything else. When you read In Pieces, be prepared for some strong reactions and feels and I hope like me that you feel it is time well spent. 

~ Bel

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A Boy Like You by Ginger Scott Cover Reveal

Check out the cover of A BOY LIKE YOU by Ginger Scott! Don't forget to preorder your copy today!

A BOY LIKE YOU

NA Contemporary Romance-Book 1 in the Like You series

Scheduled to release: March 3, 2017

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BLURB:

They say everyone’s a superhero to someone. I’m not sure who I’m supposed to save, but I know who saved me.

We were kids. His name was Christopher. And up until the day he pulled me from death’s grip, he was nothing more than a boy I felt sorry for. In a blink of an eye, he became the only person who made me feel safe.

And then he disappeared.

Now I’m seventeen. I’m not a kid anymore. I haven’t been for years. While death didn’t take me that day, the things that happened left me with scars—the kind that robbed me of everything I once loved and drove me into darkness. But more than anything else, that day—and every day since—has taken away my desire to dream.

I wasn’t going to have hope. I wouldn’t let myself wish. Those things—they weren’t for girls like me. That’s what I believed…until the new boy.

He’s nothing like the old boy. He’s taller and older. His hair is longer, and his body is lean—strong and ready for anything. I don’t feel sorry for him. And sometimes, I hate him. He challenges me. From the moment I first saw him standing there on the baseball field, he pushed me—his eyes constantly questioning, doubting…daring. Still, something about him—it feels…familiar.

He says his name is Wes. But I can’t help but feel like he’s someone else. Someone from my past. Someone who’s come back to save me.

This time, though, he’s too late. Josselyn Winters, the girl he once knew, is gone. I am the threat; I am my worst enemy. And he can’t save me from myself.

About the Author:

Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity, This Is Falling, You and Everything After, The Girl I Was Before, Wild Reckless, Wicked Restless, In Your Dreams, The Hard Count, and Hold My Breath.

A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.

When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils).

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Hold My Breath by Ginger Scott Cover Reveal

Is it hot in here??? Check out the cover of HOLD MY BREATH by Ginger Scott!

HOLD MY BREATH

NA Contemporary Romance-Stand Alone

Scheduled to release: November 18, 2016

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BLURB:

Fractions of seconds can do lots of damage. One decision can ruin lives. A blink can be tragic. And loving a Hollister…can hurt like hell.

I would know.

They say the average person can hold their breath under water for two full minutes when pushed to the extremes. Will Hollister has been holding his for years. The oldest of two elite swimming brothers, Will was always a dominant force in the water. But in life, he preferred to let his younger
brother Evan be the one to shine.

Evan got the girl, and Will…he got to bury all of the secrets. A brother’s burden, the weight of it all nearly left him to drown.

The daughter of two Olympians, my path was set the day my fingertips first touched water. My future was as crystal clear as the lane I dominated in the pool—swim hard, win big, love a Hollister.

My life with Evan burned bright. He gave me arms to come home to, and a smile that fooled the world into believing everything was perfect. But it was Will who pushed me. Will…who really knew me.

And when all of the pieces fell, it was Will who started to pick them up.

In the end, the only thing that matters are those few precious seconds—and what we decide to do while we still have them in our grasp.

EXCERPT:

The song breaks for a guitar solo, and I count the seconds, knowing that she’s going to slip away the moment everyone in here begins to clap. I won’t ask her to dance again. I won’t torture myself or push my luck. But I’ll remember this. As bad of an idea as it is, I’m glad I did it. So many painful memories woven into this place, I needed this one good one. 

It might just be the best memory I have out of everything in my life. I feel her shift in my arms, and when I pull away slightly, Maddy’s chin pushes into the center of my chest, her eyes blinking slowly while she looks up at me. Two shots and a beer are about to talk to me right now. I smile softly and nod.

“That was a much better dance,” she says.

I chuckle, tilting my head back to laugh before bringing it forward slowly, resting my brow against hers. My eyes look down at the curve of her lips, lower at the line of her jaw, and even lower at the swell of her breast under the soft black cotton of her dress. A heavy breath escapes me.

“I make you nervous?” she asks.

I don’t answer right away, instead closing my eyes and swallowing again.

I don’t even care if she can feel it. I drag my hands up her body to her neck until I’m cradling her head in my palms, my fingertips flirting with her hair along her neck and my thumbs caressing her jawline. 

“That’s what you said…before. You said you didn’t dance well because I make you nervous,” she says, her words coming out slow and sleepy.

My mouth smiles against the top of her head, and I give in, opening it enough to press a kiss against her, hoping only the strangers are our witness.

“Yes, Maddy. That’s right,” I say. “You make me incredibly nervous.”

About the Author:

Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity, This Is Falling, You and Everything After, The Girl I Was Before, Wild Reckless, Wicked Restless, In Your Dreams and The Hard Count.

A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.

When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils).

Social Media Links:

Facebook Page     I     Twitter     I     Pinterest     I     YouTube

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Paper Princess (The Royals #1) by Erin Watt

Source: e-galley provided in exchange for an honest review

From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.

These Royals will ruin you…

Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone. 

Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.

Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.

He might be right.

Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees. 

Paper Princess is not what I expected. At all. I had assumed that it would be a comical story but it turned out to be somewhat of a gritty read that contains triggers which may disturb some readers. With that in mind, please note that I will make mention of a couple of these triggers which are not necessarily spoilers but plot points. If you'd rather avoid them, you'll probably want to stop right here.

Ella Harper has been on her own since her mother died. Now orphaned, she's working three jobs while making her way through high school. The girl has goals: save loads of money, graduate, get to college and don't get caught in the meantime. You have to admire her tenacity and resourcefulness in the face of all the adversity thrown her way. When a stranger turns up at her school claiming to be her guardian, she has no idea what to believe. She's given an amazing offer that could set her up well. The catch is she has to live with this guardian, Callum Royal and his five sons. As you can guess, her moving in doesn't go over easily with the boys who see her as an outsider who's using their father for his money. One in particular, Reed, who seems to be the ringleader, is the most hostile towards her. She learns that he controls the reigns at home and at school. Her social life is essentially in his hands. But this Ella is not one to stand down from a fight and is willing to go head-to-head with him, sometimes challenging him, sometimes taunting him.

I vacillated between feeling badly for the life that Ella had endured up until now and being irritated by her immaturity. Case in point, her attraction to Reed despite his vile attitude towards her. Yet she keeps going back for more. I don't normally mind cocky heroes as long as I can find some endearing quality to them. I didn't get any of that with Reed. He certainly has his troubles but because he's so cold and calculated I just never got around to liking him. Then there's the fact that Ella is mostly surrounded by spoiled, irresponsible prats who never show accountability for their actions. I know it's judgey of me but these kids dabble in things then make their troubles go away with money. One scene in particular had me so incensed that it influenced my reaction to the book. It's a scene where an almost sexual assault occurs and I was mortified by how the characters handled it initially. Not only that, I was also angry by what followed shortly after between Ella and Reed. Normally, I can separate fiction from reality but not in this instance, and especially not in light of recent headlines which make the events in this book feel all too real. While this is a smaller subplot within the story, rape culture is a hot button topic and I wasn't keen on how it was represented within it. (I would love to have insight into the authors' thought process in writing these scenes though.)  

For the first time since we started this blog, I am honest to goodness stumped as to how to rate a book. Paper Princess feels like a mash up of Gossip Girl, Cruel Intentions and maybe a little Fifty Shades Jr. It's weird for me to say I "liked" a book when there are details in it that left me feeling so out of sorts. My personal grievances aside, I still couldn't put the book down. You can't tell that it's the work of two authors - Elle Kennedy and Jen Fredrickson - because of the fluid writing. These characters are a trainwreck and as a reader you can't help but watch as that pile up occurs. Will I be reading the follow-up, Broken Prince? Absolutely! Why? Because I need to know. I'm hoping someone in that story is redeemable. So instead of an actual rating, this is the next best thing I can do. This is me throughout the entire read!  

Gif is linked. Click to activate. 

~ Bel