Double Cover Reveal: Cassie Mae's How To... Series!

Remember when I reviewed this ^ awesome book? ...oh, well, now there are more!! YA & NA author Cassie Mae has two more How To... books slated to come out this year! Ohhhh!! Happy Friday, my friends, happy Friday indeed.

Without further ado...I'd like to introduce to you the HOW TO... series by Cassie Mae:

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Hitting shelves June 2014, we've got How To Seduce A Band Geek

Sierra Livingston's got it bad for her sister's best friend, Levi Mason--the boy who carries his drumsticks in his pocket, marches with the school's band, and taps his feet to whatever beat runs through his head. Sierra racks her brain for ways to impress the sexy drummer, but the short skirts and bursting cleavage don't seem to cut it.

When Sierra gets paired with Levi's sister, Brea, for a mentorship program, they strike a deal. In exchange for Sierra keeping her mouth shut about Brea ditching the program, Brea lets Sierra dig for more info on Levi to help get the guy of her dreams.

But when Sierra discovers Levi no longer plays the drums, his family has moved into a trailer, and he's traded in his Range Rover for a baby blue moped, Sierra's not sure if she can go through with violating his privacy. She'll have to find the courage to ask him straight out--if he's willing to let her in--and explore other ways to seduce the school's band geek.

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Hitting shelves (sadly, not until) Summer 2015, we've got How To Hook A Bookworm

It's Brea Mason's sixteenth birthday, and she has three wishes. 1. Be magically eighteen like the rest of her friends. 2. Grow a money tree for her family whose financial problems are well known about town. 3. Overcome her test anxiety before she flunks out of every class.

But one day later, she's still sixteen, her family's money worries abound, and she's no closer to passing than she was the day before!

Then a very sexy transfer student--with gobs of cash--shows up. Brea figures she has a better chance of burping up glitter than attracting the new guy, but he seems extremely interested in her.

Just when Brea thinks things are looking up, her report card arrives marked with four giant F's. Enter resident bookworm and Brea's loyal friend, Adam Silver. If he can't help Brea pass, no one can.

Even with Adam's help, Brea can't handle the mounting pressure, and finds an escape with the new student who knows little about her problems.

But spending oodles of time with her boyfriend strains the friendship with Adam she relies so heavily on. Faced with losing the only real comfort and support she has ever had, Brea starts to wonder if she can hook a bookworm before it's too late.

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About the Author

Amazon multi-category and international bestselling author of HOW TO DATE A NERD, HOW TO SEDUCE A BAND GEEK and HOW TO HOOK A BOOKWORM

Cassie Mae is a nerd to the core from Utah, who likes to write about other nerds who find love. She's an Amazon.com bestselling author of the teen contemporary romance novel REASONS I FELL FOR THE FUNNY FAT FRIEND, which she self-published. In addition to publishing with Swoon Romance, she is the debut author for the Random House FLIRT line with her New Adult novels FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI and SWITCHED. She spends time with her angel children and perfect husband who fan her and feed her grapes while she clacks away on the keyboard. The she wakes up from that dream world and manages to get a few words on the computer while the house explodes around her. When she's not writing, she's spending time with the youth in her community as a volleyball and basketball coach, or searching the house desperately for chocolate.

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Cover Reveal Organized by:

Blog Tour: That One Summer by C.J. Duggan

Loving Chris Henderson would be wrong. Diabolically disastrous. I mean, what is there about him to love? He’s moody, bossy, brooding, a control freak, and that’s on a good day … but there was one achingly obvious fact that haunted my every thought, every minute of every day …

He sure could kiss.

As the countdown to the new millennium begins, there is one thing everyone agrees on: no one wants to be in Onslow for New Year’s Eve.

So that can only mean one thing: road trip!

No longer the mousey, invisible, shy girl from years ago, Tammy Maskala is finally making up for all those lost summers. A new year with new friends, which astoundingly includes the bossy boy behind the bar, Chris Henderson.

She likes her new friends (at least most of them), so why does she secretly feel so out of place?

After chickening out on the trip, a last-minute change of heart sees Tammy racing to the Onslow Hotel, fearing she’s missed her chance for a ride. The last thing she expected to meet was a less-than-happy Onslow Boy leaning against his black panel van.

Now the countdown begins to reach the others at Point Shank before the party is over and the new year has begun. Alone in a car with only the infuriating Chris Henderson, Tammy can’t help but feel this is a disastrous start to what could have been a great adventure. But when the awkward road trip takes an unexpected turn, Tammy soon discovers that the way her traitorous heart feels about Chris is the biggest disaster of all.

Fogged up windows, moonlight swimming, bad karaoke and unearthed secrets; after this one summer nothing will ever be the same again.

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Have you read The Boys of Summer and An Endless Summer (the first two books in this series) yet? No worries. Even if you haven't, after reading this one, you'll go pick up the first two pretty quickly! Oh, my review of those two can be found here (yep, shameless plug)...anywhoooooo

This third book in C.J. Duggan's The Summer Series is an awesome one. I liked it as much as I liked the first two! Unlike the 3 year lapse between the first and second novel, there's only a few month time lapse to the third. In the second book, we're given Amy and Sean's story. There was a secondary character brought forth, Amy's best friend before she left for boarding school, Tammy. This book is Tammy's story. Unlike her best friend who is a force to be reckoned with, Tammy's always struggled to be in control and is often stressed out beyond belief. She's a personal trainer and student in biomedics--two things that she can exercise some control in her life so when Chris enters her life (Amy's cousin), she goes pretty nutty pretty quickly. Love, lust, whatever you want to call it plays by no rules. Rules and order are what Chris and Tammy live by. It's actually kind of awkward to watch the two of them get together in this story lol... 

As I had said before, C.J. Duggan's series is up their on my list of top favourite summer series (alongside Kailin Gow's and Jenny Han's). That One Summer was most definitely not a disappointment (ok, yes, I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't Adam's story). As with the first two books, this one is a sweet, light novel that's perfect for the beach (or wherever you like to relax...). It doesn't deal with the hot and heavy, it's just a simple story of two people finding their way to each other. It doesn't hurt that you do get snippets of the other characters I've come to adore from the rest of the series! Oh, and can I end off with: 1/Get off your butt and read this (and the rest of the series) now!! and 2/I can't wait for Ringer and Forever Summer!!!

My Rating: 4 Stars

The Kindle version of That One Summer is available for purchase on Amazon!

Summer Series purchase links and newsletter subscription here.

Summer Series trailer here.

About The Author

C.J. Duggan is a Number One Best Selling Australian Author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn't writing books about swoony boys and 90's pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos.

The Boys of Summer is Book One in her highly successful Mature Young Adult Romance Series.

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C.J.'s Street Team

iTunes pre-order: Ringer and Forever Summer

Blog Tour Hosted by:

Cover Reveal: Perfectly Messy by Lizzy Charles

Perfectly Messy

by Lizzy Charles

Release Date: May 2014

Popularity isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Justin Marshall knows this better than most. For the captain of the basketball team, small business owner, and son of Minnesota's next governor, life can get pretty overwhelming. But Justin can handle anything as long as he has Lucy, the girl who fell for the man he’s trying to be.

But for Justin and Lucy, finding time together proves challenging. Stolen kisses and whispered promises just aren't enough. That is, until scandalous photos of the couple are leaked to a press intent on creating a juicy scandal during Justin's dad's gubernatorial campaign. And when Lucy becomes fair play for the tabloids and gossip pages, Justin does the only thing he can to protect her: he breaks her heart.

For Lucy, junior year is everything she hoped it would be: new friends, second chances, and a boyfriend she can’t stop kissing. That is, until the boy she’s pretty sure she loves chooses the life his family wants for him, over her.

Now it’s up to Lucy to teach him what it really means to have everything. Because for Justin, being who everyone needs him to be just might cost him the one person he can’t live without.

The first book. . .

About the Author

When Lizzy Charles isn't scrambling to raise her two spunky toddlers or caring for premature and sick babies as a neonatal intensive care nurse, she's in a quiet corner writing or snuggled up with a novel and a few squares of dark chocolate. Black tea keeps her constant and she loves guacamole. She married her high school sweet heart, a heart-melting musician, so it's no surprise she's fallen in love with writing contemporary YA romance novels.

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Cover Reveal Organized by:

Saving Quinton by Jessica Sorenson

"That hope can only be gone when someone's heart stops beating. When they take their last and final breath, when they don't come back."

Quinton Carter is a nobody. He doesn't deserve to be somebody--not after what he's done. He was the driver of the car in which his girlfriend, Lexi, and cousin, Ryder, were killed. He's been trying to find a way to end his own life by way of self-destruction. He's turned a big junkie, addicted to crystal meth and he's holed up with Ryder's brother, Tristan, who seems to be on the same destructive path. He's a long ways away from when he met Nova last summer. When Nova gets out of school for the summer, she makes it her goal to try to find Quinton and to try to help him--something she wasn't able to do for her late-boyfriend, Landon. Can she help him or is he way too far down the path to ever go back? Can you really help somebody who doesn't want to be helped?

Nova is the somewhat naive girl we're all familiar with from the first novel in this series, Breaking Nova. In the first novel, she goes through hell and back dealing with the suicide of her then-boyfriend. Having broken free from her great depression, in this book, she's on a mission--a mission to save Quinton from himself. She's gone through it herself and now she's convinced that she can help Quinton get through it, too, if only he would allow her to help him...

Quinton is way damaged goods. We're talking so far down the path there's quite a big possibility that he would end up dead in a few weeks if there were no intervention. As damaged as he is, though, there's that little bit of hope and we see this in the way he really clings onto Nova and what she means to him. Even through all the drugs and bs his life currently is, she can seemingly "brighten" his day. I mean, if he was really that far gone, no one, not even a girl would be able to bring him back... I want to say that he's more lost than anything else. He really just needs someone to guide him towards a better way to grieve the loss of Lexi and Ryder. I'm fairly drawn to his character and want to see how things further develop with him as he seems fairly complex.

Saving Quinton definitely didn't disappoint. I went into this novel wanting more of Quinton and his story and oh boyyyy did I get it. It was heartbreaking, it was disgusting, it was depressing and it was oh-so-painful. Jessica really brings her reader to see things in Quinton's world and it is NOT pretty. I really felt like I was in their world which is not an easy feat in teen novels, I must say. Most of the time you can relate to characters and what not but it's not often you really get pulled into a story as you do in this series. I would say that this was a great continuation of Breaking Nova, I most definitely enjoyed it. The only disappointment was the ending--umm, hi, way to leave me hanging!! When's the next book coming out!!? :)

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

The Kindle version of Saving Quinton is available for purchase on Amazon!

Say Forever (Something More Book Three) by Tara West

Alright...we're onto the third book in Tara West's Something More series. I was kind of dreading this one a bit after how the first one ended. I was half-expecting it to be somewhat unfinished and a bit of a letdown. I'm so glad to say that it wasn't a DNF!

The amusing thing is that a year hasn't even elapsed in Christina and Andres' relationship. Andres, though, finally pops the question (not really in the most romantic way, might I add) and Christina, obviously, says yes. So off we are in a whirlwind adventure of planning a shotgun wedding because...duh-duh-duhhhhh Christina is preggers. YEP. ANYWAYS, maybe because this novel is borderline comical to me (yes, because I can totally relate to the wedding drama/disaster Christina and Andres go through), I enjoyed it more than the first. We follow the couple in their ups and downs, both of them dealing with different stresses and realities that a baby and marriage brings. Fortunately, their ever-hot-and-heavy sex life is still as hot as in the first two books in this trilogy :) Keeps you going... I'm not going to say this was my #1 series but it wasn't horrible. I think the trilogy probably could have been condensed into one longer novel.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

The Kindle version of Say Forever is available for purchase on Amazon!

Southbound Surrender by Raen Smith

"Five days. Fifty square feet. One last shot at love."

It's love at first sight for Cash Rowland. He falls hard and fast for Piper Sullivan in his senior year of highschool. By fast, we mean he falls for her in the few days at the beginning of the school year before her dad moves her out of state to finish off her year in California with her aunt...or so he's told. Fast forward five years later, Cash finds out that she's NOT in California...and that she's only a two hour drive away. He shows up at her doorstep and persuades her to hop in his tractor trailer for a five day trip to Miami. Surprisingly (or not?), she agrees and off we embark on a trip where the two (finally) get a chance at what they missed out on five years ago.

Cash Rowland is an awkward guy who's got an obsessive personality. He's book-smart but doesn't have much sense otherwise. He meets a girl and spends an iota of time with her and bases his entire future off of the chance of seeing her again. Gag. It's aww-inducing to some but for me it's kinda like...ok, common, buddy, you didn't even know her. It's one of the main themes of the book. Fate: if it's meant to be, it will happen. I can't picture him as hot, though. No matter what Piper thinks/insists, I tried really hard but I just have this mental image of lanky, nerdy kid spying through a fence =| you get the picture...

Then we have the one and only Piper Sullivan. Your hot blonde with brains to round up the whole package. Sounds like a dream, right? Except she's harbouring a secret. A huge one. One that makes her take off with no details for Cash to find her. Somehow, though, she's got Cash wrapped around her finger--the guy will do ANYTHING for her. She seems to have a good heart but there's just something about these characters that keep them at an arms length.

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Southbound Surrender was alright. I can't say I really got into the book all that much, though. The writing got a bit awkward at times which made it difficult to really get into it. I also didn't really dig the connection between the characters--he stalked her out of curiosity of her SAT scores and fell in love at the sight of her? The whole her father was the neurosurgeon who slipped up on the job and killed his mom on the day that she was born...well, it was sad, really sad...but it was just too much sob story for me.

My Rating: 2.5 Stars

The Kindle version of Southbound Surrender is available for purchase on Amazon!

Say When (Something More Book One) by Tara West

This is the first book in Tara West's Something More series. In this first book, we are introduced to Christina on her twenty-first birthday. She has just broken up with her fiance with whom she's, literally, revolted with. She's stranded in a shady party of town when Kari's (her drug-abusing-no-longer-bff) car breaks down. It is at a random gas station that Christina chance meets Andres (the hot, latin mechanic). Her world is turned upside down. The rest of the novel is about her moving out and learning to live her own life on her own terms. Who knew that meeting a stranger at a gas bar would turn out to be such a life-changing event?

Christina was a tough character for me to relate to. I get that she is deeply disturbed after having been raped by her father at the age of 15 but how did she become the puppet she seemed to be in the first pages of the novel? I didn't mind her in Say Yes but I definitely didn't love her in Say When...maybe it's the way that we're introduced to her in the first pages of the book--she seems fairly superficial (it basically reads that she can't stand sleeping with her fiance anymore nor is she physically attracted to him anymore so she dumps him). Or maybe it's that everything is handed to her on a silver freakin' platter from the get-go. Christina needs a ride so she calls Karri, that falls through so she calls Grace, she meets Andres that night and right away she's got a place to crash when she can't go home, she lands a high-paying job thanks to Andres' hook-ups, she gets her own apartment, etc. Everything just seems to fall at her feet and all we hear from her are complaints about her life, her mom, her former bff, her ex-fiance, you get the picture. The only redeeming characteristics that Christina has going for her is her softside for Tyler, Karri's baby and Karri's mom. Despite the fact that Karri and her are on the outs, Christina has nothing but concern and love for the poor child and his grandmother who's trying her best to take care of him.

Andres is a bit easier to like. He's a war veteran who's returned from Afghanistan a changed man. He's struggling with the fact that he's was driving the truck that hit a landmine that killed his best friend. Somehow, having a one-night-stand with Christina has granted him a peaceful sleep--something that he hasn't had since he returned home. A bit hard to believe...but whatever. It's a sign that there's got to be something special about this girl if she could do that (yeah, really, how DID she do that?). He continues to struggle, though, with his self-worth. From the get-go, he feels that there's a huge divide between Christina and him with him being the one that's less worthy. The recurring theme of Andres not being good enough for Christina is super-prevalent in these novels and gets a bit annoying by the third book. Overall, though, he's the super-hot (Latin Adonis) hero that swoops in at the most opportune time to rescue Christina in a time of need.

One of the secondary characters that I really hated is Karri. She's Christina's childhood best friend who's now a druggie. She's got a baby, Tyler, that she is seen to be mistreating over and over again. Maybe it's because I'm a mom but I REALLY despised Karri and what she was doing (and, really, not doing) for Tyler. She brings nothing but drama to the story and her escapades almost serve as comedic relief because of how ridiculous she is.

Then we have Grace. She's another one of Christina's friends. She's the polar opposite of Karri, though, as she's there at Christina's beck and call. There are no questions, just concern for Christina's well being. I think Grace and Andres are the two most lovable characters in this novel lol. 

I'm pretty glad that I didn't read Say When first. With the abrupt ending and my overall annoyance with Christina, had I not read the second book first, I probably would have left the rest of the series untouched. That being said, the second novel was pretty decent (though, who knows what I would have thought of it had I read these in order). I'm at war with these novels right now because I remember honestly enjoying the second book. I guess we'll see what the third book Say Forever brings...

My Rating: 2.5 Stars

The Kindle version of Say When is available for purchase on Amazon!

Cover Reveal: Hold on Tight by Serena Bell

A note from author Serena Bell...

Hold on Tight, my June release, is all about secrets. Mira Shipley's secret baby, the one she conceived with army Ranger Jake Taylor before he vanished for eight years. The secrets Jake keeps from Mira even once he's home from war, emotionally battered and physically injured. And the biggest secret of all--the one they're both keeping--how strong their feelings are, and how fast they're falling for each other.

So I figured it was time to let one secret out of the bag: Hold on Tight's fabulous cover. Without further ado, here's the first peek at Mira and Jake:

In Serena Bell's heartwarming novel, a young mother and a battle-scarred veteran must decide if they can rekindle the sparks they once shared.

Fighting for his country gave Jake Taylor's life shape and meaning. Now as an injured war hero he struggles to find purpose, until he runs into the gorgeous woman he dated briefly--and disastrously--before being deployed eight years ago. Turns out Jake doesn't need to figure out how to be a civilian...he also needs to learn how to be a dad.

Eighteen, pregnant, and totally lost, Mira Shipley couldn't track down the soldier who fathered her child, so she put college on hold and focussed on making a good life for her son. Now she's determined to be something more than Sam's mom, her parents' daughter, or Jake's girl--as hot as she finds her old flame's take-charge attitude in and out of bed. Soon Mira and Jake realize that their passion didn't disappear when Sam was conceived--and that instead of runing away, sometimes it's better to hold on tight.

ABOUT SERENA BELL

Serena Bell writes stories about how sex messes with your head, why smart people sometimes do stupid things, and how love can make it all better. She wrote her first steamy romance before she was old enough to understand what all the words meant and has been perfecting the art of hiding pages and screens from curious eyes ever since--a skill that's particularly useful now that she's the mother of two school-aged children.

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Feel the Heat by Kate Meader

Celebrity chef Jack Kilroy is in town for a few days filming an episode of his Iron-Chef-esque show. His producer, Cara Deluca, is hoping that the publicity will help save her family's restaurant that's on the fast track to failure if things continue the way they are. Along the way, Jack crosses paths with Cara's sister. Lili is the rock in the Deluca family. She runs the restaurant, she takes care of their once sick mother, etc. She's great at doing everything for everyone and neglecting herself. Jack's growing attraction to Lili is met with every possible obstacle, excuse and roadblock as Lili tries to avoid having to take her own wants and needs into consideration. But as he is with his restaurants and with his career, Jack won't stop until he gets what he wants.

The characters...

Lili Deluca is a well-rounded, bright and witty individual. She's struggled most of her life with her body image but has started to come around to believing that she has so much to offer. She's a lot like her sister in that way but you'll have to read All Fired Up to understand what I mean by that ;) Lili's so lovable and you just want to, like Jack, defend her to all the jackfaces in this world. A sweetheart through and through, it's hard to think of her in terms of being so sex-crazed. I love this otherside of her. I love that, for once, it's not the guy who wants to be doing it all the damned time!! Even still, though, Lili is reliable and really has proved to be the rock of her family. The fact that Jack can bring himself to trust Lili in such short time in a life that has, otherwise, surrounded him with superficial and manipulative people really attests to Lili's character.

For the life of me, I could not get Gordon Ramsey out of my head when I was reading this book. Maybe it was the whole chef thing but I couldn't imagine anyone else. This could have been detrimental to my enjoyment of this novel but aside from my skewed mental image, Kate pens Jack Kilroy to be hottest of hot characters (arguably hotter than Shane!!? :o). He's famous, he's good looking, and he's not looking for just a good time. :| Trust issues, yes, but those can be overcome with some effort and commitment from the right woman. Jack is just a ball of intensity. I read the book waiting for the next thing Jack to explode on (I think that's why the whole parallel to Ramsey...)

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Having read All Fired Up first, I already knew of Lili and Jack so it was nice to get to know their story. To be honest, though, I didn't love this one as much! I think one of the main reasons was because I couldn't get Gordon Ramsey out of my head lol. It definitely wasn't bad but I didn't enjoy it as much as the second book in this series. It was nice to see how they all come together, though, since I didn't have much of a back story when I read the second novel! I'm definitely excited to see that Julie and Tad's story is coming out soon, though!!

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

The Kindle version of Feel the Heat is available for purchase on Amazon!