Charged by Jay Crownover Release Week Blitz

From New York Times bestselling author Jay Crownover comes CHARGED, the latest in her sexy The Saints of Denver Series, releasing May 24th! Known for her strong heroines and alpha males, you won’t know what hit you as you read Avett and Quaid’s story. Keep reading for more about the Leagle Eagle and Avett and order your copy today.

 

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About CHARGED:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes the second installment in the Saints of Denver series featuring a bad girl and a by the book attorney who could be her salvation…or her ruin.

Avett Walker and Quaid Jackson’s worlds have no reason to collide. Ever. Quaid is a high powered criminal attorney as slick as he is handsome. Avett is a pink-haired troublemaker with a bad attitude and a history of picking the wrong men.

When Avett lands in a sea of hot water because of one terrible mistake, the only person who can get her out of it is the insanely sexy lawyer. The last thing on earth she wants to do is rely on the no-nonsense attorney who thinks of her as nothing more than a nuisance. He literally has her fate in his hands. Yet there is something about him that makes her want to convince him to loosen his tie and have a little fun…with her.

Quaid never takes on clients like the impulsive young woman with a Technicolor dye job. She could stand to learn a hard lesson or two, but something about her guileless hazel eyes intrigues him. Still, he’s determined to keep their relationship strictly business. But doing so is becoming more impossible with each day he spends with her.

As they work side-by-side, they’ll have to figure out a way to get along and keep their hands off each other—because the chemistry between them is beyond charged.

   

Excerpt:  

Avett

Don’t worry, Sprite, bad decisions always make for good stories…

I could hear my dad’s gruff voice, lightened with humor, in my ear as he told me those words every single time I got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to do when I was growing up. I was always doing something I shouldn’t then and now, so I heard those words a lot from him. Unfortunately, as an adult, my bad decisions resulted in consequences far worse than a scraped knee or a broken wrist from falling out of the tree in the backyard he warned me repeatedly wasn’t sturdy enough to limb. And sadly, my dad reassuring me in his firm and gentle way, while calling me his little Sprite as he kissed my boo-boos, wasn’t going to help my current situation at all.

              This boo-boo was big-time.

              This boo-boo was life-changing.

              This boo-boo was anything but a good story waiting to be told.

              This boo-boo very well could be the end of me, the end of the rope where my patient parents had dangled precariously for years, and it very well could be the end of any kind of future I may have had. A future I was well on my way to letting a lifetime of bad decisions and even worse choices screw up. At barely twenty-two, bad decisions had sort of become my stock in trade and were as familiar to me as my own face. I was almost legendary, at this point, for putting all my trust in the absolutely wrong kind of people. If there was a wrong path to take, I was going to skip gleefully down that road and not look back until I ended up exactly in the kind of situation I found myself in at the moment. It wasn’t like this was even a new dead end; it was the same one I ran into over and over again. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get myself turned around, and the longer I was at this dead end, the darker and more wicked it became.

              I knew better. I really did, even if there was a boatload of evidence contradicting that fact.

              I wasn’t stupid, naïve, immature, or senseless. I might appear that way to anyone on the outside looking in, but I had my reasons for being a consummate failure and lifelong loser. All of those reasons had nothing to do with me not knowing better and everything to do with me knowing exactly what I deserved.

              For a long time now I had been spiraling out of control, whirling, falling deep and deeper into a pit of really awful actions and consequences, each seemingly worse and more painful than the last. I also hadn’t made any kind of effort to try and pull myself out of it, so logically I knew the only place I was going to end up was right here, right at the lowest part of rock bottom. I never imagined the landing would be so jarring.

And don’t miss the first titles in The Saints of Denver Series!

LEVELED

 

BUILT

    About Jay Crownover: Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men, The Point,and the Saints of Denverseries. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she’ll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.    

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter

CHARGED Goodreads ** Jay Crownover Goodreads

 

 

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Easy for Keeps by Kristen Proby Release Day Blitz

New York Times Bestselling author Kristen Proby brings readers a glimpse back into her sexy as sin The Boudreaux Series. EASY FOR KEEPS is a Contemporary Erotic Romance novella in The Boudreaux Series, brought to you by 1001 Dark Nights. Grab your copy of this sexy novella today!

   

Amazon ** Paperback

ABOUT EASY FOR KEEPS:

Adam Spencer loves women. All women. Every shape and size, regardless of hair or eye color, religion or race, he simply enjoys them all. Meeting more than his fair share as the manager and head bartender of The Odyssey, a hot spot in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, Adam’s comfortable with his lifestyle, and sees no reason to change it. A wife and kids, plus the white picket fence are not in the cards for this confirmed bachelor. Until a beautiful woman, and her sweet princess, literally knock him on his ass.

Sarah Cox has just moved to New Orleans, having accepted a position as a social worker specializing in at-risk women and children. It’s a demanding, sometimes dangerous job, but Sarah is no shy wallflower. She can handle just about anything that comes at her, even the attentions of one sexy Adam Spencer. Just because he’s charmed her daughter, making her think of magical kingdoms with happily ever after, doesn’t mean that Sarah believes in fairy tales. But the more time she spends with the enchanting man, the more he begins to sway her into believing in forever.

Even so, when Sarah’s job becomes more dangerous than any of them bargained for, will she be ripped from Adam’s life forever?

   

Excerpt-

I love this place. I’ve worked at The Odyssey most of my life. First, for Callie’s dad, and then for her after he passed last year. And now that we’re planning to expand the space, Callie asked me to be her partner. The paperwork was finalized last week, and the expansion is moving forward.

It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time. I don’t just work here, I’m part owner and able to leave at a moment’s notice if the notion struck me.

Not that I ever have, or would, do that. But it was an option.

Now strings are attached, and I’ve never been a strings kind of guy. In fact, at the first mention of commitment, I’m a run-in-the-other-direction kind of guy.

And I make no apologies for it. The women I’m with know the score. I keep my life simple.

This is work, I remind myself. I’ve had a soft spot for The Odyssey for a long time, so attaching myself permanently is a good move.

It’s not a woman.

“You didn’t go home with her,” Callie says as she comes out of her office, surprising me.

“I thought you went home,” I reply instead of answering her question. “Didn’t I see Declan earlier?”

Declan is a popular New Orleans musician and Callie’s husband.

“You did,” she replies with a soft smile. “But I had some work to do here, and sometimes I just like to stay until closing.”

“We’re bar people,” I reply with a smile and walk behind the bar to pull out a bottle of water.

“So, why didn’t you give that pretty thing a ride on your desk?” Callie asks in the nonjudgmental way that only she can. She’s my best friend for a reason.

“Wasn’t feeling it,” I reply with a shrug, then grin. “Literally.”

“Harhar,” she replies, but her smile is bright. “I haven’t heard many women stories lately.”

“You enjoy my conquest stories?” I ask, not believing her. “You always cover your ears and tell me to shut it.”

“Well, some of them are just gross. Like the time you had sex in the back of a cab. That’s just not sanitary, Adam.”

“Sex isn’t supposed to be sanitary, Cal. If you’re worried about sanitation, you aren’t doing it right.”

   

And don’t forget to grab the first three books in the Boudreaux Series!

EASY LOVE

EASY CHARM

EASY MELODY

Preorder the 4^th full-length novel in the Boudreaux Series here!

EASY KISSES

ABOUT KRISTEN PROBY: New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kristen Proby is the author of the bestselling With Me In Seattle and Love Under the Big Sky series. She has a passion for a good love story and strong, humorous characters with a strong sense of loyalty and family. Her men are the alpha type; fiercely protective and a bit bossy, and her ladies are fun, strong, and not afraid to stand up for themselves. Kristen lives in Montana, where she enjoys coffee, chocolate and sunshine. And naps.  

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A Peek In The BiblioBin #199

Welcome to our Stacking the Shelves post! Stacking the Shelves (or as we like to call it, A Peek in the BiblioBin) has been created by the folks at Tynga's Reviews. It's a way for bloggers to share what books they've won, received for review, purchased, borrowed from the library or friend, received as a gift, grabbed off the bookshelf, etc.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

One thing we agree on this week is that we fail at not buying books. You'd think that after our crazy mega haul from the previous week's BEA that we'd be set for a while. Apparently we can't help ourselves. So here you go!

For Review:

Forevermore (Darkest London #7) by Kristen Callihan


Borrowed:

Case Histories (Jackson Brodie #1) by Kate Atkinson

Purchased:

The Words of the Day: The Unlikely Evolution of Common English by Steven M. Cerutti

My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul 

Nightmares! (Nightmares! #1) by Jason Segel, Kirsten Miller, Karl Kwasny

The Isle of the Lost (Descendents #1) by Melissa de la Cruz

The Rule Book (The Rule Breakers #1) by Jennifer Blackwood

Untraceable (Tracers #1) by Laura Griffin

Review: Knit Tight by Annabeth Albert

It’s no secret that Portland, Oregon, has some of best restaurants, shops, and cafés in the country. But it’s the hard-working men who serve it all up that keep us coming back for more...

One of Portland’s hottest young baristas, Brady is famous for his java-topping flair, turning a regular cup of joe into a work of art. Every Wednesday—aka “Knit Night”—hordes of women and their needles descend on the coffeehouse, and Brady’s feeling the heat. Into the fray walks a tall, dark, and distractingly handsome stranger from New York. His name is Evren, and he’s the sexy nephew of Brady’s sweetest customer, the owner of the yarn shop down the street. He’s also got a killer smile, confident air, and masculine charm that’s tying Brady’s stomach in knots. The smitten barista can’t wait to see him at the next week’s gathering. But when he tries to ask Evren out, his plans unravel faster than an unfinished edge. If Brady hopes to warm up more than Evren’s coffee, he’ll have to find a way to untangle their feelings, get out of the friend zone, and form a close-knit bond that’s bound to last a lifetime…

Source: This book was received from Kensington and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Review:

The Portland Heat series (and, really, anything by Annabeth Albert) is an auto buy for me.  The first and second books won me over with their sweetness and the third book is such a comfort read that I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it.  So it’s no surprise that when Knit Tight became available I pounced.

If you’ve read Delivered Fast you’ve met Brady.  I was dying for Brady to have his own story and was thrilled when I found Knit Tight was all about him.   But I was completely derailed by Brady’s love interest.  Please note that I was THROWN off but certainly not put off.  It’s just that not in a million years did I expect Brady to be matched up with someone so perfectly put together.  It was a wonderful contrast to Brady’s long-haired skater/garage band look. 

As always, there are plenty of obstacles in the way of our two love interests getting together but Brady and Evren struggled more than the other couples in this series.   Their individual responsibilities coupled with Evren’s insecurities over Brady’s bisexuality brought plenty of turmoil to their relationship.  Sometimes the conflict was drama filled.  Hard to avoid that when one MC is trying to raise his three younger siblings and the other is caring for a family member who is dying of cancer.   But it’s not all angst and pain.  Quite the contrary.  Real life drama often leads to humor.  The biggest amusement I found while reading this book was seeing these two trying to navigate sex around their insane schedules and distinct lack of privacy.  Hard to have your boyfriend over when you share a two bedroom apartment with your three younger siblings.  In the end these two find a way to be with one another, to lean on one another and to share each other’s lives.  Yes, there are some sad and frustrating happening in their lives, but the Happy Ever After makes everything worth it.

This is yet another excellent addition to the Portland Heat series.   A series that I was happy to learn will have a fifth installment at the end of the year.  YES!!!  If you are looking for a romance that will gently squeeze your heart and make you smile the rest of the day, then Knit Tight is certainly for you. 

Nat

That Thing Between Eli and Gwen by J.J. McAvoy

* * 1/2


Source: advance e-galley from NYLA on Netgalley

**A multicultural new adult romance from bestselling author, J.J. McAvoy**

Eli Davenport thinks he’s found the perfect woman to be his wife. She’s a doctor, like he is. She’s brilliant, like he is. And she’s wealthy, like he is.

Guinevere 'Gwen' Poe thinks her fiancé is the perfect man. He’s handsome, successful and he was her first…

But when Eli’s bride runs off with Gwen’s fiancée on his wedding day, they are left to pick up the broken pieces of each other...

Source: advance e-galley from NYLA 

Two people wronged on the same day by their lovers. One is a jilted groom who’s left alone at the altar. The other is a stunned fiancé who sees her man run away with the bride. On the wedding day. At the wedding. Talk about messed up! 

Everything between Eli and Gwen starts off acrimoniously. The animosity doesn’t lessen when they wind up being next door apartment neighbours. How much does the universe hate these two because they’re both painful reminders of their humiliation and heartbreak. Eli is unreasonably harsh towards Gwen which ticked me off because it’s not like she wasn’t just as destroyed by what their fiancées did that fateful day. He is a successful doctor and dives into his work after his wedding debacle. He is extremely gruff with people. Gwen is a complete opposite. She is a highly sought-after and successful artist in her own right but you wouldn’t know it on the surface. She’s humble by nature and doesn’t brag about or display her success or wealth. The fact that she gets to be an artist and express herself is reward enough for her. Eli disregards her work while she wonders why he’s so arrogant. Their opposite natures clash but since they’re neighbours who run into each other often, they begrudgingly learn to tolerate each other. It’s just a matter of time before they accept the inevitable.

There are aspects of the story I liked. For example, Eli’s professional persona and his interactions with the hospital interns reminded me a lot of Dr. Cox from the tv show Scrubs. His rants and various nicknames for them had me giggling from time to time. I also enjoyed that Gwen was so passionate about her art, deriving pure happiness from it. She’s proud of her work and not even Eli can make her think it isn’t important. Actually one of the best scenes involves him seeing her exhibit for the first time and finding himself immersed in those pieces. Even with these few things, I still couldn’t connect with the entire story. I found certain situations where they were thrown together to be manufactured and I couldn’t get the flow of their conversations.

I really wanted to like this novel given that it had a title that teased of things to come and a cute cover. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. 

~ Bel

Toward the Sound of Chaos by Carmen Jenner Release week Blitz

A heart-wrenching new military romance from USA 

TODAY bestselling author Carmen Jenner.

Available exclusively on Amazon and KU

Amazon US     I     Amazon UK     I     Amazon CA     I     Amazon AU     

Blurb

Jake Tucker is broken. At twenty-two, he went into the Marine Corps a naïve, troubled youth. Nine years and four tours later, Jake finds himself back on US soil, though his mind remains firmly planted in the sands of Afghanistan with the men he left behind.

Wounded, chewed up and spat out by war, Jake has only his dog, Nuke, PTSD, and survivor’s guilt to keep him company. He’s lived every day for nine years wondering when it will be his last, but there’s little comfort in the fact that he’s still standing when his platoon isn’t.

Ellie Mason doesn’t have time for broken. She’s too busy trying to put food on the table. And keeping up with the demands of her autistic son, Spencer, is sometimes like fighting behind enemy lines. As if navigating the minefields of single parenthood isn’t enough, Ellie finds herself drawn to the quiet Marine who’s just as lonely as she is. But she’s loved damaged men before, and it left her wounded.

Set against the picturesque backdrop of Fairhope, Alabama, Ellie and Jake find themselves running toward the sound of chaos.

Love is war.

Only the strong survive, and surrender is inevitable.

Excerpt

“You been drinkin’, Jake?” Obviously, I already know the answer, but I ask anyway because I need to get him talkin’. I don’t like the way his eyes seem to look right through me.

The corners of his mouth turn up in a bitter grin. “Yeah, I been drinkin’.”

I pick up the bottles of pills strewn all over the floor and set them on the counter. “How many of these did you take?” I snap.

“None.”

I discard the pills in the trash because they wouldn’t do no good after they’ve been rollin’ around in glass. “You shouldn’t drink when you’re on meds.”

“It don’t fuckin’ matter anymore.”

I snap my gaze back to his and grit my teeth. “It matters to me.”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you,” I say. “We care about you.”

His eyes get all squinty and he slurs, “You don’t even know me.”

“Is that what you think?” I snap, losing all patience with him. “That I don’t know the man I’ve been letting into my house? I know you, and the Jake Tucker I know—the Jake Spencer knows—is not this Jake.”

He smiles that twisted grin again, and so help me, I’ve never wanted to put my hands on a person in anger so much in my life. I want to slap that smirk right off his beautiful face.

“Maybe this is the real Jake; maybe I’m just another asshole you hardly know tryin’ to get in your panties.”

I stare at him in shock, and I won’t lie, it takes a moment to recover, but like any southern woman worth her salt, I’m a master in the art of backhanded compliments and southern charm. “Then you clearly ain’t as smart as I thought you were, ’cause this Jake? He don’t stand a chance of getting anywhere near my panties, but the other may have. Looks like now we’ll never know.” His cocky smile falters. “Now, stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up.”

He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “What do you know about it? You can’t even see what’s right in front of you.”

“Oh I see it,” I huff. “I’m real familiar with how mean a bottle of Johnnie Walker can make a man.”

“That the reason you never talk about why Spencer’s daddy ain’t around?”

“Yeah, that’s the reason,” I say folding my arms over my chest. “Because, it’s a long painful road that I walked away from and one that I don’t wanna have to revisit. And considering where you been, Jake Tucker, I thought you might know something about that.”

“What’s his name?”

“It don’t matter.”

“It matters,” he says through his teeth. “Believe me, it matters.”

“Why? You gonna go to Charleston, find him, and beat the crap outta him for hurtin’ me? The best thing you can do for me is to not become him.” I take a deep breath and wonder why we’re talkin’ about me at all when there’s clearly more important things going on right here. “Why didn’t you show up at my house yesterday? And why are you drinking in the middle of the day?”

“Day, night, it don’t matter. The nightmares don’t stop unless I’m three fuckin’ sheets to the wind.”

I sigh and grab the washcloth from a rack. Running warm water over it, I wring out the excess and crouch down to his level. “Give me your hand.” He shakes his head. “Give me your goddamn hand, Jake.”

He doesn’t extend it out to me, but he doesn’t pull away either when I grab his forearm. I get a good glimpse of the damage he’s done. He don’t need stitches, far as I can tell.

I gently start wiping at the mess and get to my feet a few times to rinse out the washcloth. As the blood is washed away, his scars become more pronounced. This is the first time I’m seeing him in a shirt that doesn’t have long sleeves. It makes me want to cry because his skin is a patchwork of pain. It tells a story of hate and unimaginable cruelty, but there is splendor in it, too. There’s a tale of courage, survival, immeasurable strength, and beauty in the face of such ugliness. They tried to destroy him, and they failed.

I trace my finger over the deepest scar on his forearm and blink back tears. Jake’s whole body stiffens. I decide it’s best not to push him any further by touching him again, but that don’t mean I’m going to go easy on him either. “So, you got any rubbing alcohol? Or did you drink that too?”

About the Author

Carmen Jenner is a thirty-something, USA TODAY and international bestselling author.

Her dark romance, KICK (Savage Saints MC #1), won Best Dark Romance Read in the Reader’s Choice Awards at RWDU 2015.

A tattoo enthusiast, hardcore lipstick addict and zombie fangirl, Carmen lives on the sunny north coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she spends her time indoors wrangling her two wildling children, a dog named Pikelet, and her very own man-child.

A romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first … because what’s a happily ever after without a little torture?

Stalk Her: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Published titles to date:

Welcome to Sugartown (Sugartown Series #1)

Enjoy Your Stay (Sugartown Series #2)

Greetings from Sugartown (Sugartown Series #3)

Now Leaving Sugartown (Sugartown Series #4)

REVELRY (Taint #1)

KICK (Savage Saints MC #1)

TANK (Savage Saints MC #2)

Finding North

Waiting on Wednesday (188)

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


By Jill Shalvis
Publication Date: June 28, 2016

Choose the one guy you can’t have . . .

As captain of a San Francisco Bay tour boat, Pru can handle rough seas—the hard part is life on dry land. Pru loves her new apartment and her neighbors; problem is, she’s in danger of stumbling into love with Mr. Right for Anybody But Her.

Fall for him—hard . . .

Pub owner Finn O’Riley is six-foot-plus of hard-working hottie who always makes time for his friends. When Pru becomes one of them, she discovers how amazing it feels to be on the receiving end of that deep green gaze. But when a freak accident involving darts (don’t ask) leads to shirtless first aid, things rush way past the friend zone. Fast.

And then tell him the truth.

Pru only wants Finn to be happy; it’s what she wishes for at the historic fountain that’s supposed to grant her heart’s desire. But wanting him for herself is a different story—because Pru’s been keeping a secret that could change everything. . . . 


By Garret Leigh
Publication Date: July 4, 2016

Web designer Jodi Peters is a solitary creature. Lunch twice a week with his ex-girlfriend-turned-BFF and the occasional messy venture to a dodgy gay bar is all the company he needs, right? 

Then one night he stumbles across newly divorced firefighter Rupert O’Neil. Rupert is lost and lonely, but just about the sweetest bloke Jodi has ever known. Add in the heady current between them, and Jodi can’t help falling hard in love. He offers Rupert a home within the walls of his cosy Tottenham flat—a sanctuary to nurture their own brand of family—and for four blissful years, life is never sweeter. 

Until a cruel twist of fate snatches it all away. A moment of distraction leaves Jodi fighting for a life he can’t remember and shatters Rupert’s heart. Jodi doesn’t know him—or want to. With little left of the man he adores, Rupert must cling to what remains of his shaky faith and pray that Jodi can learn to love him again.



By Chanel Cleeton
Publication Date: July 5, 2016

From the author of Fly with Me and the Capital Confessions Novels comes the newest in the sexy Wild Aces Romance series.

Eric Jansen—call sign Thor—loves nothing more than pushing his F-16 to the limit. Returning home to South Carolina after a tragic loss, he hopes to fix the mistake he made long ago, when he chose the Air Force over his fiancée.

Becca Madison isn’t quick to welcome Thor back. She can’t forget how he shattered her heart. But Thor won’t give up once he’s set his sights on what he wants—and he wants Becca.

Thor shows Becca that he’s no longer the impulsive boy he used to be, and Becca finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. But will Thor be able to walk away from his dream of flying the F-16 for their love or does his heart belong to the sky?