🍷.5 #Review of First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn

 

Title: First Comes Scandal
Series:  Rokesbys #4
Author: Julia Quinn
Format: ebook/Paperback, 384 pages
Publication: Apr. 31, 2020 by Avon
ISBN-10: B07TGCZTS9   
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Edelweiss
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

She was given two choices....

Georgiana Bridgerton isn’t against the idea of marriage. She'd just thought she'd have some say in the matter. But with her reputation hanging by a thread after she's abducted for her dowry, Georgie is given two options: live out her life as a spinster or marry the rogue who has ruined her life.

Enter option number three...

As the fourth son of an earl, Nicholas Rokesby is prepared to chart his own course. He has a life in Edinburgh, where he's close to completing his medical studies, and he has no time - or interest - to find a wife. But when he discovers that Georgie Bridgerton - his literal girl next door - is facing ruin, he knows what he must do.

A marriage of convenience...

It might not have been the most romantic of proposals, but Nicholas never thought she'd say no. Georgie doesn't want to be anyone's sacrifice; and besides, they could never think of each other as anything more than childhood friends...or could they?

But as they embark upon their unorthodox courtship they discover a new twist to the age-old rhyme. First comes scandal, then comes marriage. But after that comes love...

Kimberly's Thoughts:
Georgiana was kidnapped by a fortune hunter but even though she managed to save herself, her reputation is in tatters.
Nicholas is called down from medical school in Edinburgh by his father who orders him to marry their neighbor and Nicholas' childhood friend, Georgiana.
It's a marriage of convenience but a close quarters carriage ride with a grumpy cat might turn it into a marriage of love.

#Spotlight on Broken Bonds by Kaylea Cross

Broken Bonds
(Crimson Point #4.5)
by Kaylea Cross
Kindle Edition, 113 pages
Published May 26th 2020 by Kaylea Cross Inc.
ASINB08274XFDB

Autumn winds and rain have returned to Crimson Point.

It’s November in the Pacific Northwest and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Beckett and the Crimson Point gang are looking forward to celebrating the holiday together. This year they all have more to be thankful for than ever…but that also means they have even more to lose.

But this year a different kind of storm is looming.

Recent problems at work have left Beckett and crew scrambling to get projects completed. It’s all hands on deck, and just as the end is finally within sight, a deadly threat emerges from the shadows. When things take a lethal turn, the Crimson Point team must once again come together to save one of its own, and hunt down the vengeful killer before he can strike again.

AMAZON | B&N 

Read an #Excerpt from Rock Hard: Chord Brothers by M.J. Roberts + #Giveaway

Rock Hard: Chord Brothers, Book 3
by M.J. Roberts 
Kindle Edition, 367 pages
Published February 22nd 2019 by Eminent Press
ASINB07NYHLYYW

Cole’s world shattered seventeen years ago. Now he’s got one chance to get his life back on track. Hoping that going back to music will ease his tortured soul, Cole starts his own band. There’s only one problem— he can’t find a drummer.

T.J. Casarez is stuck working in her family’s restaurant until her cousin calls her to audition. Cole’s not expecting a female drummer. Yet from the first beat they sizzle. But there’s no way she’s getting involved with a privileged pretty boy. She’s been burned before, and dating a band member is a recipe for disaster.

Only... it’s not just their onstage chemistry that’s on fire.

AMAZON | B&N 

The Flower Court with Jeffe Kennedy of The Fiery Crown

The Flower Court

When I went to build out the world in my Forgotten Empires trilogy, I put my heroic and embattled Queen Euthalia at the center. I wanted her to be ruling over a small island of peace in a chaotic world. I made this true in a literal sense, in that her kingdom of Calanthe is an actual island, and a paradisal one at that. But I also created a metaphorical oasis of art, pleasure, and knowledge.

I called it the Flower Court of Calanthe.

Calanthe is a refuge, a place of asylum in a world where the finer things are either stolen or destroyed. I took some of this from tales of art being smuggled out of the Louvre and hidden in barns ahead of the German invasion in World War II. The Nazis had a reputation for taking the good stuff and burning the rest. Thus, art from the many scattered and forgotten kingdoms has found its way over the years to be hidden and preserved on Calanthe.

Read an #Excerpt from Flatline by Linda Bond

Flatline
(The Investigators #3)
by Linda Bond 
ebook, 238 pages
Published May 25th 2020 by Entangled: Amara
ASINB087GY58H3

People are dying in Dr. Joshua Salvador’s ER. His medical assistant, only weeks from delivering her baby, hangs on to life by a thread. The symptoms seem horrifyingly familiar, and he begins to suspect the deaths are targeted at him. But, before he can figure things out, top TV investigator Rachel Wright is standing in the middle of his ER, convinced an outbreak, an epidemic, or even a botched flu vaccine could be the cause, and she’s going to tell the world.

AMAZON 

Read an #Excerpt from Dark Moon Falls: Ghost by D.J. Bryce

Dark Moon Falls: Ghost
by D.J. Bryce
Kindle Edition, 92 pages
Published May 14th 2020
ASINB088NJSHYS

Welcome to Dark Moon Falls … where everything is not as it seems. It has secrets, shifters, romance, villains and so much more.

Ghost has been living the life of a nomad. A Lone Wolf. Riding his Harley, picking up odd jobs, and stopping only long enough to lay his head somewhere for the night. But life on the road is no longer as appealing as it used to be and he’s ready to settle down, find a mate, and begin the next chapter of his life.

Dark Moon Falls seems like a great place to do just that.

Mackenzie was born and raised in Dark Moon Falls, but ever since her ex-husband landed in jail based off of her testimony, she’s become a pariah to the shifters in town. Which is fine with Mac, because after being left to raise her son alone, she doesn’t have much faith in them either.

Ghost and Mac are two lonely souls, until fate finally intervenes and puts them in each other’s paths... But will they accept the gift of each other, or are they both two stubborn to see what’s right in front of them?

AMAZON

🍷🍷.7 #Review of The Earl Takes a Fancy by Lorraine Heath

Title:  The Earl Takes a Fancy
Series:  Sins For All Seasons #5
Author: Lorraine Heath
Format: Paperback/eBook, 400 pages
Publication: Mar. 31, 2020 by Avon
ASIN:    B07TV5YB3X 
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Edelweiss
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 2.7 out of 5 Wine Glasses

She’s looking for a nobleman to wed…

Though born out of wedlock, Fancy Trewlove is determined to fulfill her mother’s wish that she marry into nobility. Fancy’s keen intellect and finishing school manners make her the perfect wife for any gentleman—if he’s willing to overlook her scandalous lineage. But Fancy’s plans are thrown into chaos when an intriguing commoner begins visiting her bookshop—and she finds herself unable to stop thinking about him.

He’s looking to escape his title…

Widowed just a year ago, the reclusive Matthew Sommersby, Earl of Rosemont, has been besieged by women hoping to become his next wife. Desperate for anonymity, he sheds Society life to search for the peace that eludes him. Fancy’s shop is his one refuge, until the night their passion erupts into a kiss that nearly leads to her ruin—and leaves both longing for much more.

Together, they discover an unlikely love…

As Fancy finds herself torn between her family’s expectations and her growing feelings for Matthew, secrets are exposed—secrets that force Fancy to question if she can trust her heart’s desire...

Kimberly's Thoughts:
After widowed Matthew's, Earl of Rosemont, wife posthumously has a letter printed in the Times about what a great husband he was, ladies have been clamoring for his attention. He decides to rent rooms in a more middle class area of London to escape for awhile. There he walks into a bookshop and feels his world tilt when he meets the owner.
Fancy Trewlove loves her family but feels pressure to marry an aristocrat because of her mother's dreams for her and all that her brothers and sister have provided her. The more she gets to know Matthew, the more she wants to simply marry for love.
Fancy can't get Mr. Matthew Sommersby out of her mind but Matthew is going to have to see beyond his trust issues.

🍷🍷🍷 #Review of I'll Be Watching You by Leslie A. Kelly

Title:  I'll Be Watching You
Series:  Hollywood Heat #1
Author: Leslie A. Kelly
Format: Paperback, 400 pages
Publication: Mar. 31, 2020 by Forever
ISBN-10: 1538735148 
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 3 out of 5 Wine Glasses

She can trust him with her heart, but can she trust him with her life?

Growing up as a foster kid, Jessica Jensen found her escape in movies-especially those starring teen heartthrob Reece Winchester. When she meets him as an adult, he's just as charming, fascinating, and devastatingly handsome as she'd imagined. Before she knows it, Jessica is falling hard. But her real-life Cinderella story is about to take a deadly turn...

Jessica has completely upended everything about Reece's carefully ordered life. There's a reason he's never allowed anyone to get so close to him before. But now that she has, there's a target on her back. Because someone knows that the Winchesters have been hiding some dark family secrets. Someone who is out there waiting to strike. Waiting...and always watching.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
Reece Winchester is an award winning director and when he spies a woman on a security camera feed, he's immediately drawn to her.
Jessica Jensen loves her sister and when she pops into an art gallery to pitch her sister's work and they agree to set-up a meeting, she is ecstatic. When Jess finds out that her sister's art show might all have been an elaborate plan orchestrated by Reece, she is wary but still drawn to him.
As these two try to build a future, their pasts are creeping in more and more.

🍷🍷🍷 .3 #Review of Total Bravery by Piper J. Drake

 

Title:  Total Bravery
Series:  True Heroes #4
Author: Piper J. Drake
Format: Paperback/eBook, 305 pages
Publication: Apr. 24, 2018 by Forever
ASIN:    B074M6QBLV
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 3.3 out of 5 Wine Glasses

True heroes will do anything to protect the women they love...

As the newest recruit at Search and Protect, Raul has a lot to prove. Luckily, he's got the best friend and partner a man could ask for: a highly trained, fiercely loyal German Shepherd Dog named Taz. Together, Raul and Taz make an unbeatable team. But their first mission in Hawaii really puts them to the test when an international kidnapping ring sets its sights on the bravest woman Raul's ever met . . .

Mali knows her latest job has put one hell of a target on her back. And on this small island paradise, there's nowhere to hide. With a service dog like Taz, Mali feels safe. Sharing close quarters with a smoldering muscle-for-hire like Raul, she feels something else - an unexpected wave of desire. Raul feels it too. But when the kidnappers make their move, he's got to turn that slow-burning passion into hard-hitting action - and save the life of the woman he loves.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
Mali is in Hawaii doing research for a human rights study focusing on sex trafficking, when her principal investigator blows his alert whistle when her and her colleagues are out doing street interviews, she knows she's in trouble. Her former military sister Arin works on the island, so she calls her for help.
Raul has just been hired by Search and Protect Corps, a job his former colleague and friend Arin helped him get. When he gets a call forwarded from Arin's phone because she is currently on a mission and hears her little sister asking for help, he knows he has to act.
Mali and Raul both have trust issues but as they work to find out what happened to Mali's colleagues, the spark between them is getting harder and harder to ignore.

Read an #Excerpt from The Naughty Princess: A Sexy Royals Novella by Claire Contreras

The Naughty Princess: A Sexy Royals Novella
(1001 Dark Nights #123)
by Claire Contreras
Kindle Edition
Published May 12th 2020 by 1001 Dark Nights Press
ASINB081G7DSNY

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Claire Contreras comes a new story in her Sexy Royals series…

Princess Pilar is tired of playing by the rules. She’s sick of the spotlight and being seen as the uptight goody-too-shoes the media has cast her to be. She’s especially tired of the fact that her brothers are allowed to run off and do whatever they want while she sits inside watching the world pass her by. That’s why she decides that while her older brothers are off on their usual summer holidays, she’s going to quietly pack her things and travel to the one place her parents have always forbidden her to step foot on – Ibiza.

As the star of the French premiere fútball league, Benjamin Drake has it all – the money, the cars, the clothing contracts, and any woman he wants. Problem is, the only woman Ben has ever wanted badly enough to stop partying is Princess Pilar, the one he can never, ever have. Despite his fame and achievements, in Pilar’s world, she’ll always be royalty and he’ll always be a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who got lucky. He’d never be accepted. He knows that. Yet, when he spots Pilar partying at the same club as him, all bets are off. He’s determined to get her in his bed, even if it’s just for one night.

AMAZON

#Interview with author A.P. Murray of Greedy Heart

In uncertain times it can be comforting to look back at past world-turning points, because looking back shows that people made it through. GREEDY HEART takes place during the 2008 stock market crash, a time that changed lives, and its heroine comes out of it with a changed heart, stronger! So we’re thrilled to have the author with us today! Welcome, A.P. Murray!

Lexi: GREEDY HEART is a tale of materialism and selfishness in an uncertain time. And in uncertain times, people go through fire and find out who they really are. Your heroine, Delia, intends to get to the top and she’s willing to jump into sketchy deals and crazy schemes to get there. What did you love about writing a woman who’s goal is monetary?

A great character arc!

I think that’s what readers find satisfying, and it’s also fun to write.

If you want your character to end up HERE < puts hand above head>, she’s gotta start down HERE . I wanted Delia to end up redeemed. So she starts out as a stone-cold money-grubber, able to quote the price on any luxury good she encounters.

Money represents so many things, doesn’t it? It’s practical—everyone needs money to live—but it’s also an abstract. It can mean success, love, security, power. That’s what makes writing about money, and a woman who wants it, so fun!

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of The Lasaran by Dianne Duvall

Title:  The Lasaran
Series: Aldebarian Alliance Series #1
Author: Dianne Duvall
Format: Kindle Edition, 460 pages
Published: April 21st 2020 by Dianne Duvall
ISBN: ASIN B085KW6R28
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: Author
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Wine Glasses

New York Times bestselling author Dianne Duvall brings readers the first novel in a thrilling new sci-fi series full of action, intrigue, humor, and romance.

Taelon searches the galaxy for his younger sister, who mysteriously disappeared while on a diplomatic mission. When an ally reveals that she was seized and is being held prisoner on Earth, Taelon descends upon the blue planet, intent on freeing her and exacting vengeance. However, all does not go as planned. Before he can find her, Taelon is captured and becomes the subject of torturous experiments. For what feels like an eternity, all he knows is pain and fury… until a mind tentatively touches his own and a woman’s voice forever changes his world.

After suffering tragic losses, Lisa is finally beginning to carve out a future for herself when chance sends her to the Anomalous Cognition Research Institute. What at first appears to be a benign organization seeking participants for a psychic study instead turns out to be a government facility harboring a much darker intent. Lisa discovers this too late and soon becomes the unwilling subject of a terrifying experiment. Just as fear and desperation threaten to consume her, a deep, compelling voice penetrates the looming insanity and lends her hope.

Having seen only the worst of humanity, Taelon is shocked when Lisa risks everything to free him. Together the two make their escape, and Taelon finds himself fascinated by the small human woman who—despite all she’s suffered—can still laugh and tease and lure smiles from him. Friendship swiftly grows between them as they work together to evade soldiers intent on capturing them and find themselves hunted by mystifying preternatural beings. Through it all, Lisa steadfastly remains by his side, stealing more of his heart each day while she helps him unravel the mystery of his sister’s fate. Can they find his sister before the hunters find them? If they survive their quest, will Taelon have to bid Lisa farewell… or can he coax her into leaving her planet and joining him for the adventure of a lifetime?

Linda's Thoughts:
Dianne Duvall’s The Lasaran is the brilliant, out-of-this-world opening salvo in her new paranormal/sci-fi Aldebarian Alliance series. If you are a fan of Dianne’s, you’ll be thrilled to know that this ingenious series is a spin-off from her amazing Immortal Guardians (IGs) series. Dianne gave us a hint in Death of Darkness (IGs#9) as it featured a teaser referencing the Aldebarian Alliance. 

🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of A Duke by Any Other Name by Grace Burrowes

Title:  A Duke by Any Other Name
Series:  Rogues to Riches #4
Author: Grace Burrowes
Format: Paperback/eBook, 384 pages
b: Apr. 28, 2020 by Forever
ASIN:    B083J1L3ZN   
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Nathaniel, Duke of Rothhaven, lives in seclusion, leaving his property only to gallop his demon-black steed across the moors by moonlight. Exasperated mamas invoke his name to frighten small children, though Nathaniel is truly a decent man—maybe too decent for his own good. That's precisely why he must turn away the beguiling woman demanding his help.

Lady Althea Wentworth has little patience for dukes, reclusive or otherwise, but she needs Rothhaven's backing to gain entrance into Polite Society. She's asked him nicely, she's called on him politely, all to no avail—until her prize hogs just happen to plunder the ducal orchard. He longs for privacy. She's vowed to never endure another ball as a wallflower. Yet as the two grow closer, it soon becomes clear they might both be pretending to be something they're not.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
“Lady Althea Wentworth is, without doubt, the most vexatious, bothersome, pestilential female I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.”