Goodbye Paradise by Sarina Bowen Cover Reveal

OMG all!  Sarina Bowen is releasing a m/m book and we've got the cover to show you!  If you love Sarina as much as we do, you will join us in a happy dance!  Let's make Wednesday awesome!

The book is Goodbye Paradise and if you've read the True North Series, you may recognize Paradise.  Goodbye Paradise tells the story of Joshua and Caleb.  Check out the blurb:

Most people called it a cult. But for twenty years, Josh and Caleb called it home. 

In Paradise, there is no television. No fast food. Just long hours of farm work and prayer on a dusty Wyoming ranch, and nights in a crowded bunkhouse. The boys of the Compound are kept far from the sinners’ world. 

But Joshua doesn’t need temptation to sin. His whole life, he’s wanted his best friend, Caleb. By day they work side by side. Only when Josh closes his eyes at night can they be together the way he craves. 

It can never be. And his survival depends on keeping his terrible desires secret.

Caleb has always protected Josh against the worst of the bullying at the Compound. But he has secrets of his own, and a plan to get away — until it all backfires. 

Josh finds himself homeless in a world that doesn’t want him. Can Caleb find him in time? And will they find a place of safety, where he can admit to Josh how he really feels? 

Warning: Contains a hot male/male romance, copious instances of taking the Lord's name in vain, and love against the kitchen counter. This book was previously released under the title: In Front of God & Everyone.

Without further adieu, check out this awesome, awesome cover!

Book two is Hello Forever.

Seriously, I CANNOT wait to read these books.  There will be so many feels.  So many.

~ Shel

For Finlay by J. Nathan Blog Tour

Today we have the blog tour for For Finlay by J. Nathan. Check out this fantastic new release and grab your copy today!

Title: For Finlay

Author: J. Nathan

Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance

About For Finlay:

Finlay Thatcher is a lost soul, guilt-ridden after the death of her twin brother. When Alabama's football coach gives her the opportunity to work for him, she knows it's her chance to move on, even if it means living her brother's dream.   Caden Brooks is Alabama's star quarterback. He's got it all. The attention of adoring fans. A girlfriend who'd do anything to hold on to him. And a future in the pros. He's getting along just fine until Finlay steps into his life, despising him at first sight and pushing his buttons like no other.   Unfortunately for Finlay, and her attempt to keep Caden at arm's length, there's nothing Caden loves more than a challenge. The problem with this challenge is she comes with a secret that has the power to destroy everything.

Get Your Copy Today!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2hbzmm5

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2hTPFmN

Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2gQH6uZ

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2glYhG8

iBooks: http://apple.co/2huPtdx

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/2hpIoi3

About J. Nathan:

Nathan is the author of the new adult novels For Finlay, Before Hadley, Until Alex, and Since Drew. When she's not writing, she's a total romance junkie! Add an alpha male who's unlikable in the beginning...even better. Happy endings are a must. Love triangles and negative people are the bane of her existence. Her family, friends, guys in backwards hats, and watermelon margaritas are the light…

Connect with the Author:

https://www.facebook.com/jnathanauthor

https://twitter.com/@Jnathanbooks

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8202337.J_Nathan

www.jnathan.net

https://www.pinterest.com/jnathanbooks

http://amzn.to/2brF0xz

Subscribe to my newsletter: http://bit.ly/2fXAOLQ

 

Enter J. Nathan’s Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway    

Click here to read Bel's review of For Finlay 

For Finlay by J. Nathan

* * * 1/2

Finlay Thatcher is a lost soul, guilt-ridden after the death of her twin brother. When Alabama's football coach gives her the opportunity to work for him, she knows it's her chance to move on, even if it means living her brother's dream. 

Caden Brooks is Alabama's star quarterback. He's got it all. The attention of adoring fans. A girlfriend who'd do anything to hold on to him. And a future in the pros. He's getting along just fine until Finlay steps into his life, despising him at first sight and pushing his buttons like no other. 

Unfortunately for Finlay, and her attempt to keep Caden at arm's length, there's nothing Caden loves more than a challenge. The problem with this challenge is she comes with a secret that has the power to destroy everything.


*Source: advance e-galled provided in exchange for an honest review


What is it about cocky college jocks that get us so excited? Perhaps we like when they meet their match in fiery, independent women they fall for? I think that's it for me. 

Finlay is a heartbroken freshman who's attending the school that her brother should be at. But he's not there and she is. So she resolves to live out his dream for both of them. Finlay sees it as repentance for the way their relationship went south. Caden, the star quarterback, is the focus of all her ire. He doesn't know why but he likes that she's feisty and doesn't take crap from anyone, including the guys on the football team. If anything, it's refreshing that she speaks her mind and doesn't glom on to everything he says and does the way most people do, especially girls. Especially his girlfriend. The fact that she knows and understands football only adds to her cool factor. Too bad she finds him repulsive. Or so he thinks. Finlay works hard to keep him at a distance but even she can't resist that he's fundamentally a decent guy. But she won't divulge too much about herself because that's personal and the truth is too painful. Developing a friendship with Caden feels like the ultimate betrayal to the memory of her brother. Sheesh, things are complicated.

This is my third J. Nathan novel and I pounced on the opportunity to read it. There's something different about her new adult novels that I like. In this case, I liked how she wrote Caden. Sure, he's a bit cocky and his innuendos are typical of a jock I suppose, but he's a good guy from the get go. Most importantly, is he's not a player. So when he finds himself falling for a particularly smart but stubborn water girl, he makes the necessary changes in his life to accommodate that. Don't get me wrong, he's a knucklehead, too but then so is Finlay, and their stupidity comes into play later. The in between is filled with sexual tension, humour, and bittersweet memories. 

I liked For Finlay; it's a quick, fun read that also has its emotional moments. And I will always say yes to a J. Nathan book.

~ Bel

We're celebrating the release of For Finlay with a giveway. Click here to enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of For Finlay!

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

* * * * *

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.



When History opens, you're immediately hit with the reality that someone is dead which sets the tone for the sombre, heart-wrenching read about love, loss and regrets that follows. 

I found the protagonist, Griffin easy to like. He's simultaneously charming and self-deprecating, capturing your attention at once. He and Theo have this effortless connection that many people yearn for. But it's a sucky time to be in love at seventeen when everyone inevitably moves away or on to something new. So it is with Theo who ends up going to college in California. If you love something set it free, and that's exactly what Griffin does for him, believing that their bond is strong enough to carry them through the next few years until they can come back together. That's always been the end game in Griffin's mind. The best intentions can sometimes go awry and it happens when Theo meets someone else while away. And when he unexpectedly dies, the only person who can truly understand what Griffin's going through is Jackson, Theo's new boyfriend. Griffin has no choice but to censor his bitterness and grief in order to come to terms with Theo's death, his own role in the fragmenting of their relationship and what Jackson's presence meant for their future. 

Here's something I've discovered recently: I have an appreciation for authors who can describe love and being in love in all its various degrees. Silvera captures the joy of crushing on someone, then falling in love and within that, the complexities of falling in love at such a young age when there's still more of life to explore. A shattered, grieving heart that also hopes for a reconciliation. Finally, what seems like the irrevocably broken soul that only comes with losing a beloved and that dreadful feeling that one can never be whole again. 

History's unexpected gift is how Silvera opened my eyes to OCD. Griffin has a few "quirks" and while they don't inhibit him from functioning like most people, they're things that occupy his mind. For example his need for things to be in even numbers or being to the left of someone. It's common to picture OCD as extremely debilitating or blatantly obvious. But in Griffin, I learned that there are different forms and he simply preferred a certain symmetry to things. Theo knew this and accepted them as is, even accommodating him.

Adam Silvera knows how to write, how to tap into those emotions and express them in his stories. His characters aren't outlandish heroes but lowkey and introspective. Their bravery comes through when their walls come down and they can no longer hide behind them. For a second time thanks to History Is All You Left Me, I find his characters becoming a little part of me.

~ Bel

A Peek In The BiblioBin #230

Photo source: Bel/Bibliojunkies

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.

What's in your bin?

+ + + + + + + + + + + +


For Review:

A Boy Like You by Ginger Scott

Purchased:

Good Boy (WAGS #1) by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Falling for the Player by Jessica Lee

***

From Entangled Embrace:

Bad boy and former NFL running back Patrick Guinness is tired of meaningless sex. Ever since his scorching hot one-night stand three years ago, no one has interested him. So when Max Segreti wanders into his mechanic shop—and his life again—Patrick can't stop thinking about the totally-out-of-his-league law grad and the possibility of getting him out of his system once and for all…

Max Segreti has spent his entire life doing what his father wants. But when he runs into the hotter-than-hell player he’s never been able to forget, he’s not thinking about studying for the bar. A distraction is the last thing he needs, but after an encounter leaves him wanting more, Max embraces the chaos that Patrick brings…even as he knows it can’t last. They're too different to ever have a future together.

Imagine having a smoking hot encounter with your college's star football player, who then goes on to the NFL.  You're the nerdy guy studying too hard, being forced to go out by your BFF, then you end up hooking up with the football god.  One night to fantasize about over the long, lonely nights of undergrad, then law school.  Then, you're having car trouble, walk into the shop to get it fixed and there he is - the football god.  

Patrick is the bisexual football god and Max is the sort-of our, sort-of closeted geek fresh out of law school.  Their reunion at the shop leads to more and these two have to figure out of the blue collar ex-jock and the rich brainiac can find a way to make it work.  

Falling for the Player is a charming romance.  Of course, Patrick and Max make all kinds of mistakes along the way and deal with interference from both of their families.  Falling for the Player has the fantasy most of us enjoyed and the satisfying HEA we all crave.  

~ Shel

Wound Tight by Tessa Bailey

***

From Entangled Brazen:

A sexy new M/M romance from New York Times Bestselling author Tessa Bailey

When CEO Renner Bastion walks into a room, everyone keeps their distance. Well, everyone but the sarcastic, tattooed, Boston-bred security guard whose presence has kept Renner in New Jersey longer than intended. As if the unwanted attraction isn’t unsettling enough, Renner finds out his protector isn’t as unavailable as originally thought.

Milo Bautista just came out to his wealthy, ultra-confident boss, a man he secretly respects and admires…in more ways than he’ll admit. Worldly, experienced Renner would never look in his direction, let alone share some of that confidence he wears like a cloak, so Milo has set his sights on someone else to be his first.

Until Renner offers him private lessons in seduction...

Each book in the Made in Jersey series is a standalone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order. 
Series Order:
Book #1 Crashed Out
Book #2 Thrown Down 
Book #3 Worked Up 
Book #4 Wound Tight

It's no secret we are pretty big fans of m/m romance here on the blog.  I'm also a pretty big fan of Tessa Bailey, so imagine my elation to mix the two!  Wound Tight is Tessa's first foray into the world of m/m and she hit it out of the park with her trademark scorching romance.  We met Renner in the earlier Made in Jersey books and he's the asshole suit who comes in to buy the factory that pretty much keeps the small town employed.  It's always a feat to take a character that was disliked in a series and make you love and relate to them in their own book. 

That's exactly what Tessa does.  In Wound Tight, we find out why Renner is, well, wound so tight.  Why he's such an asshole.  We come to love and root for him and Milo, even when we want to shake some sense into both of them.  And then Tessa's signature dirty talk and alpha men will melt the cover right off your tablet. 

If you are a m/m fan, a Tessa Bailey fan, or just a fan of steamy romance, then Wound Tight is for you.  And when you're done obsessing over these two beautiful men, go read Tessa's backlist.  

~ Shel