Forever Us by Caylie Marcoe

Two years ago, Riley Logan agreed to go on a reality dating show with her best friend, Travis Grayson.

She didn't expect to fall in love with him.

One year ago, Travis asked Riley to marry him. 

She said yes.

Now in the days building up to the wedding Riley and Travis navigate through the finishing touches. 

A bachelorette party Riley is sure to never forget. 

And the day they finally become - Forever Us. 

Forever Us is available for your reading pleasure --> here!

Having loved Riley and Travis' story, I was thrilled to find Caylie had written a bit of a sequel to Choose Us (see my review here). Our beloved bffs are back and they're getting hitched! So exciting. Okay, this is a lighter read with a lot of hot and steamy so if you're looking for a super-developed storyline, you will be disappointed. If you're looking for a short, hot and steamy read, this is right up your alley! I won't spoil what happens at Riley's bachelorette party but let me tell you how giddy I was when it did happen! This was a lovely read to wrap up an awesome story of two best friends who fell in love and ended up together. Enjoy!!

(Never) Again by Theresa Paolo

Just when she had finally moved on…

…He moved back.

When college freshman Liz Wagner hears her ex's voice for the first time since he moved clear across the freaking country, she does what any respectable girl would do: Dive into the girls' bathroom.

Zach Roberts—the Zach Roberts—is back. And he’s everywhere Liz looks—infiltrating her friend group, buddy-buddy with her brother. It’s enough to ruin college altogether. But what choice does she have but to put on a happy face and pretend he didn't leave her vulnerable and alone in a pile of emotional wreckage?

Pretending works, until tragedy strikes and the only person available for comfort is the one person she wants to stay away from. When Zach turns out not to be the jerk she convinced herself he was, but the boy she used to love, Liz needs to decide whether to open her heart again to the boy who tore it out.

(Never) Again is available for purchase:

   

Lizzie and Zach are a great couple but they just didn't do it for me. I think it may have been because Zach's reasons for leaving Lizzie high and dry just didn't make any sense to me in the end (and it bugged me to no end that we had no real clues as to why he did what he did all throughout the novel).  He seems like a decent enough sort of guy and he does seem to genuinely care for Lizzie but how he treated her confounded me from the beginning of the novel and since there was no real redemption or explanation to his behaviour until the very end, I felt that he was a bit harder to love. Though, really, given the choice, it was Zach > Joe any day. 

As much as I hated Joe for being an asshat, I sort of felt like Lizzie deserved it for being so oblivious (I get that he was a rebound guy) to his asshat-ness. He repeatedly prioritized any and everything he could ahead of Lizzie time and time again. I'm sorry, but if you let yourself be a doormat--you can't really blame the other person when they walk all over you, know what I mean?

This was still a sweet novel, don't get me wrong. It definitely had some goodness to it but it just lacked an oomph for me. The family aspect to it was very touching and I could totally relate to it but there was just that disconnect that I had with the characters that threw me a bit off.

Blog Tour: Something Reckless by Lexi Ryan

He talks dirty to me, but I don’t know his name.

He wants to tie me up, but I don’t know his face.

He turns me on, but I couldn’t point him out in a crowd.

I’ve fallen for an anonymous stranger, and now the anonymity ends. I want more than typed secrets and texted promises. I want something reckless. Heat. Passion. The thrill of being entirely possessed.

Because I suspect this anonymous stranger isn’t a stranger at all.

*     *     *     *     *

Lizzy Thompson met riverrat69 online through a service promising to deliver meaningful relationships by forbidding its users to share names or photos until they’ve reached a certain benchmark. She was looking for love. He was researching an investment. They hit it off. Talked and flirted, hid behind screen names and cartoon avatars.

Now they’re breaking the rules and meeting in person. But Liz is prepared. She’s picked up hints and followed clues. She’s nearly convinced she’s discovered the identity of her dirty-talking online friend.

She wonders if her ex-lover Sam Bradshaw knows her identity too.
When she rolls the dice on one reckless night, her chance at something real could crumble.

Something Reckless is available for purchase:

     

**SOMETHING RECKLESS is book 1 in the sizzling new Reckless and Real series and includes the prequel, SOMETHING WILD, for your convenience. Liz and Sam's story concludes in SOMETHING REAL, coming in March 2015.**

“You need a good guy. A long-term guy. One who does dates and romance and emotional strings…I’m just an asshole who wants to tie you up, make you come, and walk away.” 

Samuel Bradshaw is a man with a reputation—the kind of reputation that should have me running the other way. Instead, it has me searching for the shortest distance to his bed. I won’t be the starry-eyed girl who thinks she can change a man like Sam, and despite what he thinks, forever is not what I need. I need the things he makes me feel, the way he turns me on, and the promise of pleasure in his eyes. I need SOMETHING WILD. 

This is the free prequel to the full-length romance novel Something Reckless

Something Wild is available for free:

     

There was something about this novel that I just loved. I can't place my finger on exactly what it was but I just know that I loved it. Maybe it was the twists in the plot that kept you guessing right up until the end of the novel. Maybe it was the sexiness of the main characters Sam and Lizzy. Whatever it was, Lexi Ryan did it all right! The sexual encounters between Sam and Lizzy were scorching hot. I think there was such a great chemistry between the two of them, it really worked and kept me wanting the next time they would get together. I loved and hated the way it ended--hello cliffhanger!! I can't wait for the next book to come out!

The novella, Something Wild, served as a perfect introduction to Sam, Lizzy and all of the supporting characters. It gives you just enough history that you really "get" the characters and leaves you ready to dive right into Something Reckless. It gave a great sample of Lexi's writing and gives you just enough to taste of this awesome series. 

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author Lexi Ryan’s novels have been described as intense, emotional, and wickedly sexy. A former college professor, she now writes full-time from her home in Indiana, where she lives with her husband, two children, and a neurotic dog. Find her on Facebook or Twitter to chat about books, TV, and her children’s latest antics.

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Eyes Turned Skyward by Rebecca Yarros

Life's too short to play it safe...

Since her sister's death, twenty-year-old Paisley Donovan, who shares her sister’s heart condition, is treated like delicate glass by her parents. But nothing will stop her from completing her Bucket List—even if it kills her. And it almost does, until Jagger Bateman pulls her from the ocean and breathes more than air into her lungs—he sets her soul on fire.

Jagger is enrolled in the country's toughest flight school. He's wickedly hot, reckless, and perfect for a girl looking to live life to the fullest. Except that Paisley is the commanding general's daughter, and her boyfriend is Jagger's biggest rival. Now Paisley must decide just how much to risk for a guy who makes her heart pound a little too hard.

They're flying through dangerous territory—and one wrong move could make them crash and burn...

Eyes Turned Skyward is available for purchase:

     

Another amazing novel by Rebecca Yarros. I can't say that I enjoyed Eyes Turned Skyward more than I enjoyed Full Measures. It was definitely on the same level as in a different way. I loved it. There's a great development in the characters--it was very nice to see Jagger get his own book. Nothing was laid out completely right from the start but there was just enough to keep you going and with every chapter there was a bit more to leave you wanting more (but enough not to piss you off). The story was unique and had enough substance to keep me truly entertained. There was also enough of the hot and steamy and was done in such a way that it didn't take away from the story and make it seem trashy. If it makes sense, it was a story first with a tasteful amount of sex vs a book full of sex scenes with a smatter of a story.

Jagger was the perfect guy, seriously, and only got better as the book went on. I don't think there was much that turned me off from him. His self-doubt was really depressing but I think he had a good head on his shoulders despite how they tried to pass him off. The secrets made him more enticing (umm, kind like how I realllllly want a story about Grayson now, btw) and attractive.

I'm not quite sure if I was supposed feel sorry for Paisley or not. I felt like I was supposed to but at the same time, I was more annoyed with how she was dealing with her hand in life. Though a bit conflicted with her character, I couldn't hate her--it seemed mean to hate someone like her lol.

All in all, absolutely loved Eyes Turned Skyward. Definitely a must read and definitely one filed under all-time-favourites!!

Blog Tour: The Best Kind of Love by Kerri Carpenter

After twelve years away, organized consultant, Penelope Walker, doesn’t expect to return to Blue Lake, Virginia. But when her parents unexpectedly die, she returns to her hometown and finds out that general contractor and former love of her life, Ethan Callahan, is back too. Their relationship transcended the typical high school romance and his mere presence is enough to have all those feelings of passion return full force. Only she can’t forget that Ethan didn’t show up for their secret elopement and left her brokenhearted.

It doesn’t take long for Ethan to realize he wants Penelope back, but he knows she won’t let go of the past that easily. When she finds out what her parents asked him to do all those years ago, she’ll never let him back into her life. Even though he did all of it for her.

Penelope’s determined to unravel the mystery of their shared pasts, while Ethan wants nothing more than to move on to their future. If these two former lovers can learn to forgive and forget, will they be able to remember that they had the best kind of love?

The Best Kind of Love is available for purchase:

 

As the title of this novel may allude, this was definitely more of your heartwarming kinda romance. The storyline was very aww-inducing and could thaw a frozen heart. I guess the small-town setting insists on a more wholesome feeling and this novel delivered. Our main girl, Penelope, returns home to the small-town she grew up in after the tragic loss of her parents. Perfectly great and horrible timing since she just got laid off from her super-fantastic dream job. As much as it sucks that she's dealing with her parents' deaths, it was great that she had the time off to truly deal with her grief as well as the loss of her job. What she doesn't expect that her first love, Ethan, has ALSO returned and has seemingly infiltrated every part of the life she had left behind. In a small town like Blue Lake and with him being her neighbour, Penelope can't seem to escape the man who once broke her heart.

Penelope, as much as she SAYS she despises Ethan doesn't really fight him off all that much. She goes on and on and on about how much she can't stand him because of what he did to her but in a blink of an eye will end up in his arms. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. She's a bit too wishy-washy for my liking, though, I do like her take-charge attitude.

Ethan seems to be a decent guy with a whole lot of baggage. That baggage slowly unravels itself through the novel and you go from not liking him and not understanding his actions to realizing that he's that much more of a stand-up guy. As Penelope unfolds later in the story, he's pretty awesome as she once thought...possibly more!

This was an enjoyable read, it was sad, it was aww-inducing and it had enough mystery (behind Ethan's story) to keep you turning the pages. It also sets up for Penelope's sister, Chloe, to have a story of her own--I wonder if each of the sisters will end up with their own book?

About the Author

Kerri Carpenter began writing in her grandmother’s kitchen at the age of seven in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, PA. A life-long fan of reading, she got lost in the worlds of The Baby-sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. She also assumed that everyone had characters and plots forming in their heads at all times.

Once she turned to romance novels, she couldn’t get enough of books with happy endings, so she started writing her own. Now, Kerri writes contemporary romances, usually set in small towns. She enjoys reading, cooking, watching movies, taking Zumba classes, rooting for Pittsburgh sports teams, and anything sparkly. Kerri lives in Northern Virginia with her adorable (and mischievous) poodle mix, Harry.

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