TWIST (Dive Bar #2) by Kylie Scott Blog Tour

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When his younger brother loses interest in online dating, hot, bearded, bartender extraordinaire, Joe Collins, only intends to log into his account and shut it down. Until he reads about her.

Alex Parks is funny, friendly, and pretty much everything he's been looking for in a woman. And in no time at all they're emailing up a storm, telling each other their deepest darkest secrets... apart from the one that really matters.

And when it comes to love, serving it straight up works better than with a twist.


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


Imagine yourself in one of the worst, most embarrassing scenarios to meet a stranger and you'll have a slight inkling as to how Alex feels when she walks into the Dive Bar to finally come face-to-face with Eric Collins, the guy she's been emailing back and forth with for several months. She thought it'd be a great idea to surprise him...on his birthday. Except that it wasn't Eric in those emails but his brother Joe who was pretending to be Eric all along. And Joe doesn't look like Eric with the gorgeous face that she fell for. You know what she is? Mortified. The universe is playing a horrible joke on her. So now she's stuck alone in this town for the night realizing what a horribly bad decision this was. She intends to be on the first flight out but is thwarted when she comes down with the flu and has to stay on a few extra days until she gets better. So who plays nurse for her? Joe, the very guy who humiliated her. This cruel universe is really having a laugh now! He works for her forgiveness and tries to undo the damage he caused. She becomes less angry as she sees a man who has ambition, motivation and is loyal to a fault. Pretty soon she's falling for him and he for her and well ...sexy times.

While the story does give way to some heavy moments - in a couple cases heartbreaking - Twist offers Kylie Scott's trademark humour and shenanigans. The first chapter is set up so perfectly: I winced and cringed because everything about it spelled doom. Naturally, I LOVED it! Trust Scott to dream up with these blundering entrances. The best part is that her characters are able to shake them off and come back stronger. And of course there's heat. I particularly enjoyed Alex's internal monologue whenever she felt herself being drawn to Joe's natural charisma and his hot body. Let's not forget that. Eventually it's like, "Eric who?" for her. As always, our two main characters are surrounded by an amazing group of friends and there's even a special appearance by a fan favourite. 

Twist was a quick read for me because when it comes to Kylie Scott - whom I have dubbed my fairy Godmother of Fun - I go crazy and devour her books immediately. Twist is an entertaining extension of the Stage Dive series that dips its toes a little into that world but avoids the over-the-top lavishness of the rocker lifestyle while still keeping it in the family. Every time I had to reluctantly put the book down I couldn't wait to dive back into it. Yes, pun intended. Trust me, it's oh so awesome ;-)

~ Bel

Waiting on Wednesday (120)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.

Title: My True Love Gave to Me: 12 Holiday Stories
Authors:  Stephanie Perkins, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Gayle Forman , Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Matt de la Pena, Rainbow Rowell,  Laini Taylor, Kiersten White
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.



















Title: One in a Million
Author: Jill Shalvis
Publication Date: October 28, 2014
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

As the brains behind wedding site TyingTheKnot.com, Callie sees it all: from the ring to the dress, the smiles . . . to the tears. It's that last part that keeps her single and not looking. Getting left at the altar will do that to a girl. But when Callie returns to her old hometown, she finds that her sweet high school crush is sexier than ever. And he makes it hard to remember why she's sworn off love . . .

Tanner is a deep-sea diver with a wild, adrenaline-junkie past—and now his teenage son is back in his life. How can Tanner be a role model when he's still paying for his own mistakes? It's hard enough that gorgeous Callie has appeared in town like a beautiful dream, challenging his best-laid plans to keep his heart on lockdown. Though there's something about being around her again that makes him feel like he can be the man she—and his son—deserve. Little Lucky Harbor holds their past; can it hold a beautiful new future?

Lead (Stage Dive #3) by Kylie Scott (Excerpt & A Freaking Awesome Giveaway Too!)

Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Stage Dive, the epic New Adult series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.

As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it's booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble. 　

Lena's not willing to take any crap from the sexy rocker and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.

Amazon // B&N // iTunes

 

The Stage Dive series by Kylie Scott:

Lick (Stage Dive #1): Amazon / B&N / Goodreads

Play (Stage Dive #2): Amazon / B&N / Goodreads

Deep (Stage Dive #4) available on January 6th, 2015: Amazon / B&N /Goodreads

Review

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After ascending to hilarious highs in Play, it's time to get sober in Lead. Lena, who we met in the previous book, is hired to be Jimmy’s sobriety companion. Yes, the lead singer of the biggest band in the world needs a "babysitter" to make sure he doesn’t fall back into old addiction habits so that means being in close quarters with him at all hours, all day, every day.

Jimmy begrudgingly agrees to it. It’s not exactly what Lena had in mind either but since she’s still floundering after leaving home a year ago, she takes the job offer. As with the heroines in the previous two Stage Dive books, Lena is another strong female entering into the macho world of the Ferris brothers. She is so not intimidated by Jimmy at all. He can grunt his answers and be as anti-social as he wants to be but he doesn’t scare her off.

After a day that includes an emotional farewell and a particularly nasty and public encounter with another family member, Lena sees a whole new side to Jimmy that is otherwise kept very private. This is the Jimmy that is beyond reach.  And this is the Jimmy that she starts to have feelings for.  I have to say, Lena’s developing and inconvenient crush on him is adorable and funny.  Jimmy is so clueless that he doesn’t even pick up on it, at least not initially. However, anyone of us who has ever gone through that can recognize all the things that Lena is going through from the unintentional stares to the runaway thoughts turned fantasies. The boundaries start to get blurred and Lena knows that she’s falling for someone who is emotionally unavailable and incapable of the kind of intimacy that she wants. Let's not fail to remember that he is her boss too. Talk about complicated!

I appreciated that Lena is honest with herself.  She’s a big girl, she knows where this could lead and she’s prepared to deal with the consequences of her decisions, stupid as they could turn out to be. But she’s willing to take the risk to a certain extent. Jimmy on the other hand vacillates between wanting Lena to get her own life and wanting her to himself. Yes, there’s some jealousy and yes this big guy is in total denial about it. And when he suggests some utterly nonsensical ways for her to get over her crush on him (based on some silly magazine article) things naturally get heated up. People it’s hysterical and it’s made even more so because Jimmy is not only stubborn but also not very good with words. It still doesn’t stop Lena from mouthing off at him and falling deeper for him. As their relationship goes from professional to bizarre to hysterical to uneasy, he continues to be mostly grumpy and distant.  

One thing I like about the Stage Dive series is that all the heroines that have been introduced so far are impressive, independent women. They’re unapologetic about who they are and they don’t dwell on what they may be lacking. It’s refreshing. When it comes to relationships, these women aren’t necessarily interested in changing the guys who come into their lives. If anything, these women bring out the better versions of these hard rocking, hard living guys. Lena is no exception. She’s a phenomenal foil to Jimmy’s moodiness. She cares for him deeply and her relentless encouragement of him to push past his barriers slowly chip away at his gruff demeanor. Lots of stuff broken, hearts included in the process but since when has love ever been easy?

Lead has solidified my author crush on Kylie Scott. I don't know how but she once again manages to create a mini-universe within the Stage Dive family. Lena and Jimmy have their own unique story to tell independent of the others but it's still about a tight-knit family. They all gather around when needed and of course, Mal, that dear sweet clown is there to deliver extra laughs. 

And before I forget, I'd also like to thank whoever it is who's responsible for these freaking hot covers. Hot musicians and tattoos - an irresistible and dangerous combo! Look at these covers and discuss ...

They're just lovely, aren't they? So if you're into broody lead singers who will rock your world and wicked sharp heroines who are their match, Lead is a sure bet! And now that we've met David, Mal and Jimmy, I CANNOT wait to find out Ben's story in Deep :-)

In the meantime, check out the a delicious excerpt from the book and learn more about the awesome Stage Dive series and the incredible Kylie Scott!

~ Bel

Excerpt

“Lena, you seen my old black Led Zep shirt?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?” His brows became one dark cranky line. The scratches on his face were healing well, thank goodness. Though it didn’t reduce my desire to throttle his mother on a daily basis.

“Yes. I haven’t seen it.”

Can’t find it anywhere…”

“And this is a surprise, how?” I slipped my hands into my back jean’s pockets. “Jimmy, you own more clothing than Cher, Brittney, and Elvis, put together. Things are bound to go missing.”

“Sure you haven’t seen it?”

“For goodness sake, what do you think, Jimmy? That I stole it to sleep in or something?” I laughed bitterly. Sure as hell, the truth deserved a good mocking. I’d sunk so despicably low.

I hadn’t even meant to steal the stupid thing, but the shirt had been mixed up with my laundry a few days ago. It’d been the first top I laid my hand on after stepping out of the shower, ready to go to bed. Without thought, I’d put it on and it’d been so soft, the scent of him lingering beneath the laundry detergent. Every night since, I’d found myself in it come bedtime. My shame knew no limits. And no, I still hadn’t quit. The words still hadn’t come even close to leaving my mouth.

He frowned. “No.”

“That I have some deep secret longing to feel close to you resulting in my stealing your shirt like some creepy perv?”

“Course I don’t fucking think that,” he replied crankily, reaching up to grip the top of the doorframe. All of his bulging muscles stretched the arms of his white T-shirt in the nicest way. It was all I could do not to start drooling, my heart beat taking up residence somewhere down between my thighs. And who could blame it? Not me. Maybe if I got laid, this would go away and things would return to normal. It’d seemed safer to avoid rubbing up against any men just in case I got carried away and started dating again. This new situation, however, changed everything.

“Well, of course not! That would be crazy.” And wasn’t that the god’s honest truth? Cray-zeee. Lock me up and throw away the key because it wasn’t like I didn’t know better.

“Just can’t figure out where the hell it could be.”

Angels couldn’t have smiled as innocently. They might have tried, but they would have failed, the dirty-mouthed, winged, little liars. “Jimmy, I don’t know where it is. But I’ll look around for it later, okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, and then added as an afterthought, “and stop looking at me weird.”

“I’m not!”

About Kylie Scott:

Kylie is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and one delightful husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.

Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Goodreads | Website

Giveaway


So here's that freaking awesome giveaway we promised... Go forth and enter avid readers! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

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Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?  And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Rainbow Rowell seriously won me over with Eleanor & Park. And you know how you can love one book so much that you worry if you can love the next one as much? Well, I’m glad to report that I didn’t have anything to worry about here!

The first word to come to mind for how to describe Fangirl is “adorable”. It’s just chock full of adorable that I cannot stop beaming over that fact. Cath and her twin sister Wren have been stuck at the hip since always.  So Cath is shocked when they’re ready to start college that Wren decides to room with someone else, change her appearance and even starts to distance herself from her. It’s an odd feeling for Cath and she’s unsure if she can even make it at college without her sister as her sidekick.

I think almost anyone can identify with Cath’s fear and insecurities about starting at college not knowing anyone and having to create a whole new social circle. Her roommate Reagan is a bit of an imposing personality. Reagan's friend Levi who is constantly hanging out in their dorm room, is a charismatic, outgoing guy with a hipster vibe, is a personality that Cath just can’t quite grasp. Instead of trying to get out there and make friends, she confines herself to her room and her fan fiction writing.

As the school year wears on, Cath starts to break out of her shell a little thanks to Reagan who basically insists that she stop being weird. Levi even begins to get under her skin and before she knows it, these nutty people are her friends. The downside is that she and Wren have started losing touch with each other which concerns Cath.  And even though she’s started branching out, she’s still afraid to completely let go and claim her independence. She's constantly coming up with ways to leave school behind because she wants to avoid the changes that are happening.

Rowell excellently captures Cath's hesitation about being on her own for the first time. Little things like Cath surviving on granola bars in her dorm room to avoid the cafeteria exemplify her fragility. Discovering who she is away from being Wren's twin and learning not to hide behind Simon Snow to become a writer in her own right are pivotal growing experiences for her as a freshman. I felt so protective of Wren and had plenty of appreciation for her Reagan and Levi who looked out for her in their quirky way. But the biggest area of growth is her relationship with her sister as they learn to communicate with each other again and accept the differences that have sprung up between them.

Rowell also did plenty of research on fan fiction to capture that whole world. I'm not big into fan fiction myself simply because I don't have the time to read that much - believe me I wish that wasn't the case! But what I did read in Fangirl was quite entertaining and I also thought it was a great "thumbs up" to the fan fiction world from a fantastic author. 

If you read Eleanor & Park and enjoyed it, I know you'll absolutely enjoy Fangirl as well. It's story line is about the same speed and you just can't help but fall in love with Cath and Levi. It's another one of those that leaves you smiling and saying "you go girl!"

~ Bel

A Peek in the Bibliobin (42)

Welcome to our Stacking the Shelves post! Stacking the Shelves (or as we like to call it, A Peek in the Biblio-Bin) has been created by the lovely ladies at Tynga Reviews.

Stacking the Shelves is a way for bloggers to share what books they have won, received for review, bought from the bookstore, borrowed from the library or friend, etc.

This is what we have in our bin this week. Tell us what's in your Biblio-bin!

Review
Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Undeadly by Michele Vail

 

Tempest by Julie Cross

* * * 1/2

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.


When we received Tempest, I fully admit to trying to pawn it off on Shel and Bel.  The fact is time travel drives me batty.  The impossibilities and incomprehensible ramifications of it keeps me from fully enjoying and appreciating a time travel story.  I can't even watch Back to the Future without getting all worked up and starting an argument with The Executive Officer about how impossible time travel is.  So imagine my chagrin when I found out that Shel is not a big time travel either and Bel was already committed to a few other reads.  So I took one for the team and read the dreaded time travel story....

...and all I have to say is that Julie Cross is a genius.  Tempest manages to be the first time travel story that didn't make me want to pull my hair out.  The non-stop action never allowed me to overly dwell on the time travel issues that I have.  The book read like an action movie and consistently kept me on the edge of my seat so much that I couldn't wait to turn the page to see what happened next. 

I personally found the main character in this book pretty engaging.  Jackson starts out as a jackass commitment-phobe but grows considerably as he learns exactly what his abilities entail.  His friend Adam was the cliche genius that helps him find the answers to his abilites.  In the end though, he was a loveable character so I couldn't hold the cliche status against him. The most fascinating characters in this book were the more mysterious secondary chracters - Courtney, the little red head girl, Thomas and Jackson's father.  I look forward to learning more about these characters in the next two books.

The one thing that I didn't enjoy about this book was the romance.  Jackson and Holly's relationship lacked emotion and intensity.  Holly's character was nice enough not well developed which made the interest between the two of them seem rather one sided.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next two installments in the trilogy.

Nat